


The Natural and Silent Respect

by Lilac10_01



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilac10_01/pseuds/Lilac10_01
Summary: A modern retelling of the Ouran Highschool Host Club but with a twist on the main love interests.Haruhi is forced to become part of the host club despite being a girl and grows irritated with the ignorance of the others but there was one person who stuck out. He never commented on her status, her appearance, or tries to change her. Her respect for him was unlike any other.Takashi watches the others and tries to understand why they wanted to change Haruhi. He silently watches over the club while somehow getting closer to Haruhi.The two formed a mutual respect and friendship or so they think until Ritsu Kasanoda falls in love with Haruhi. While he was supposed to be Takashi's apprentice, Takashi cannot help but feel hostile when he sees him with Haruhi even though he treats her with the same respect he does.Perhaps their respect for one another had turned into something else when neither one of them realized.
Relationships: Fujioka Haruhi & Morinozuka Takashi, Fujioka Haruhi/Kasanoda Ritsu, Fujioka Haruhi/Morinozuka Takashi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 87





	1. The Beginnings of Admiration

**Author's Note:**

> This story will follow the anime instead of the manga though some things from the manga will be included. However, up to a certain point, this story branches off from the anime as well.

The day was bright and sunny as it usually was, Haruhi believes it was because rich people never seemed to face any inconveniences. She had not been attending the school for very long but each time she arrived, it always looked straight out of a movie set or show where nothing was real. 

“Hey, Fujioka, is it true that you haven’t joined any clubs yet? Since you’re really smart you could potentially join the academic team but do you get much spare time as a commoner?” A classmate asked as Haruhi walked towards their classroom. 

Damn rich people. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I want to focus on my studies so I spend my free time studying, I don’t have time to be in any club,” Haruhi responded before walking on. 

If the others kept on talking to her and hitting her with insulting comments, she would surely break. Haruhi had found that the rich lived in their own little bubble which she seemed to disturb so she had decided to stay to herself as to keep their bubble from getting too shell shocked. 

It was going to be like any other day, she would work in class then eat in class, and study in a quiet place. She usually stayed in class to study but lately, there have been more and more students staying back and chatting around instead of going off to do whatever rich people do. 

Haruhi wondered if they even studied, they all had their lives set out in front of them so did they have to study anything aside from their family business? 

“Good morning class, today we will…”

Haruhi took notes vigorously and made notes in her textbook. Since she was attending on a scholarship, she was given the textbooks with no fee so she was putting it to great use. Though, the scholarship had not covered her uniform cost since the uniform was not required. While everyone wore one, it was more so to look professional and Haruhi would rather get weird looks than have to pay for such a ridiculously expensive uniform. 

For lunch, she ate rice with a side of steamed vegetables and a banana. She had run out of the house in a rush that morning so her lunch got hit. 

Haruhi hummed to herself as she looked at the vegetables, the market was probably going to have some marked down fish later. If she left school early enough, she might be able to get there right as they are marked down!

The thought of getting the marked down fish drove her and soon it was the study period. If she studied quickly enough, she would be able to leave on time. 

She headed to library two since it was closer to her classroom. However, by the time she arrived, there were already students chattering loudly and she spotted a few girls from her class laughing obnoxiously in the corner. 

Oh well, there were still three other libraries. 

Haruhi headed for the first and third libraries but they were no better. 

Damn rich people, if they were just going to socialize why did they not go out in the courtyard of something? Perhaps even join a club since they had so much damn free time. 

Haruhi calmed herself before peaking into the fourth library. If anything, it was even louder than the previous libraries. Haruhi sighed as she walked away, the school had four different libraries in the high school alone and yet they were all noisy.

As she walked through the empty halls, she walked past the large windows giving her a clear view of the outside sky and doves flew by. She suddenly thought of her mother, she wondered how things were in heaven for her. It had been ten years since she had lost her mother but she still thought of her regularly. 

Her last hope for some peace and quiet was the unused third music room upstairs. Hopefully, the stairs were an inconvenience to the rich kids who seemed to only come to school to have a good time. It was probably the only place she would be able to study in peace and quiet. 

As she pushed the door open, rose petals seem to fly towards her as a bright light came from the room. She squinted and when her eyes adjusted she found six guys in school uniforms standing and smiling as they welcomed her. 

There was one guy who was sitting and he explained within seconds that they were a host club, there to entertain the girls with too much time on their hands. 

“T-this is a host club?” Haruhi asked in shock as she pushed herself against the doors. 

Millions of questions raced around her head as they looked at her and she to them. 

“Oh wow, it’s a boy!” The two boys who had to be twins said in perfect unison. 

“Hikaru, Kaoru, I believe this young man is in the same class as you, isn’t he?” The one with glasses asked the twins. 

Man? Did he think that she was a guy?

Either way, he helped bring the attention off of her as the others looked at the twins. 

“Yeah but he’s shy. He doesn’t act very sociably, so we don’t know much about him,” They said in perfect unison. 

It was almost scary how in sync they were. 

“Well, that wasn’t very polite,” The glasses guy said. “Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Mr. Honor Student.”

Haruhi was confused, it was not like they were wrong about anything aside from her being a guy. She was not shy but she rather stay to herself than to try to understand the others. Either way, she wanted to leave and forget she had even come. 

“What? You must be Haruhi Fujioka!” The one who had been sitting exclaimed. “You’re the exceptional honor student we’ve heard about!” 

Haruhi was fumbling around with the door handle when he got her attention, “How did you know my name?” 

As far as she knew, it was her first time seeing those guys except for the twins.

“Why you’re infamous. It’s not every day that a commoner gains entrance into our academy,” Glasses explained. 

Commoner? 

“You must have an audacious nerve to work hard enough to fight your way into this school as an honor student, Mr. Fujioka.”

Haruhi was getting annoyed by him already, she wanted to wrap things up and head on out.

“Well, uh, thank you, I guess,” Haruhi said even though it was a backhand compliment. 

“You’re welcome!” The blonde that had been sitting suddenly grabbed her shoulder. 

She had been so focused on Glasses that she had not seen him get up and close to her. 

“You’re a hero to other poor people, Fujioka! You’ve shown the world that even a poor person can excel at an elite private academy!” Haruhi bit her tongue as she tried to get some distance between them or else she would hit him and regret it. “It must be hard for you to constantly be looked down upon by others.”

He drew closer. 

“I think you’re taking this ‘poor’ thing too far,” Haruhi said as she continued to put some space but her still came close to her. 

“Spurred! Neglected! That doesn’t matter now! Long live the poor!” He put his hand back on her shoulder. "Welcome to our world of beauty, poor man!" The blonde shouted as he raised his hands.

Haruhi knew it was best to leave before she hurt their ignorant brains or sensitive feelings. 

"Excuse me," Haruhi mumbled as she turned and headed towards the door.

"Hey! Haru-chan! Haru-chan! Haru-chan, you're a hero? Amazing!" A boy shorter than Haruhi shouted as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the club. 

"I'm not a hero, I'm an honor student," Haruhi tried to explain. "And who are you calling Haru-chan?!" Haruhi shouted since she hardly met the guy and he was already acting like they were close friends. 

The boy ran off as the other blond slid back into the conversation. 

"Still, to think that such a fabled erudite student would be gay…"

"Gay?" Haruhi pondered. 

"What is your preference?" The blonde asked. "The strong-silent? The boy Lolita type? The little devil type? The cool type?"

"It's not like that!" Haruhi exclaimed as she backed up. "I was just looking for a quiet place where I could study!"

"Or perhaps...you'd like to try me? How about it?" The guy asked as he caressed her chin. 

Haruhi felt chills across her body as she backed away from him. However, in that motion, she backed into a stand and as she turned around, she watched in horror as a vase began to fall. 

Her eyes teared up as she reached for it. Her fingertips brushed against the last few molecules of the vase before it tumbled and shattered. 

"Ah!" Haruhi cried out. 

"Aw, that renaissance vase was going to be featured in the school auction!" The twins shouted. "Now you've done it! We were going to start the bidding at 8 million yen for that!"

"8 million yen?! How many thousand yen is that? How many thousands in 8 million? Could I pay you back?" Haruhi asked as she turned to look at the twins. 

"Could you even? You can't even afford a school uniform. What is that grubby outfit anyway?" The twins asked. 

"What will we be, Tamaki?" Glasses asked. 

"Have you ever heard this saying, Fujioka-kun? 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do!' If you have no money, pay with your body. As of this moment, you're the host club dog!" The tall blonde shouted. 

Haruhi felt all her blood run cold as she stood limply. 

'This is too much, Mom. I've been captured by this ridiculous bunch who call themselves a "Host Club."'

"Poke, poke," The short blond said as he poked Haruhi's arm twice. 

Haruhi felt her world go dark as she fell to the ground. 

"He passed out," Kyoya muttered. 

"Oh no! Is he okay?" Honey asked as he crouched down. 

"Oh what a bore! He doesn't seem fun at all, you guys deal with him," The twins said as they turned and left to get ready for the club. 

"What if I killed the commoner?! Oh no!" Tamaki shouted as he envisioned the police coming after him. 

"Takashi, he can sleep in my bed," Honey said and Takashi grunted. 

He bent down and picked up the rather light male. Takashi wondered why he passed out from that. He had passed out a few times from fatigue, perhaps the honor student stayed up later studying. 

Perhaps they should just let him leave and not make him spend time at the club. Takashi tucked Haruhi into the bed, he hoped he would manage. 

Takashi left to help get the club room ready for the guests. 

When Haruhi woke up, she stared up at the ceiling or rather a curtain that was covering the top of the bed. 

It was clear that it was not her place since she slept on a futon. A sweet aroma of coffee and tea also filled her nose. 

"Ah, Haru-chan is awake!" 

Haruhi flinched as she closed her eyes, surely it was a nightmare. 

"Commoner, we need more coffee, go on and fetch us some more," The tall blonde said. 

"We would appreciate it if you could go as soon as possible, if our clients are unpleased due to a lack of coffee, we will add to your debt," Glasses said and Haruhi groaned as she sat up. 

That man seemed to have no heart. 

"Don't you think I should at least learn your names first?" Haruhi asked. 

"Ah, why I am the club leader! I'm Tamaki Suoh! But you can call me Tamaki-senpai!" Tamaki said as he made a dramatic pose.

"We're Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin," The twins said in perfect unison. 

"I'm the vice president, Kyoya Ootori," Kyoya 

"I'm Mitskuni Haninozuka, call me Honey-senpai!" The small one said as he sat on the tallest member’s shoulders.

"Takashi Morinozuka." 

"Mori-senpai is a man of few words," Tamaki said. 

Haruhi sighed as she got out of the bed, "Give me a list of what you want."

Kyoya handed her a list and the club card. "Spend more than needed and that will add to your debt."

Haruhi bit her tongue as she made her way out of the suffocating club room. She refused to believe the small boy was a grade or two above her. As for the tallest one, she rather liked that he hardly spoke. She wished there were more people like him, maybe then she would not have ended up becoming the dog of the host club. 

On her way to the supermarket, she realized she had no idea what brand of coffee they wanted. Since Kyoya had threatened to add to her debt if she went over a certain amount, Haruhi decided to get something rather cheap and quite a bit so they would not run out. 

Takashi silently looked out the window as he watched Haruhi make his way through the front of the school. He was worried he would pass out, he had just woken up from being passed out and left without at least drinking some water. 

“Takashi! Have you seen Usa-chan?” Honey asked as he looked for his pink stuffed bunny. 

“Mm,” Takashi responded as he took his eyes off of Haruhi and helped Honey find his beloved stuffed animal. 

“Mori-senpai, how many requests did you get today?” One of the twins asked. 

Takashi rubbed the back of his neck, he was unsure.

“He doesn’t have many today, though you barely have more than he does today. I guess today is pretty slow for everyone except for Tamaki. I say it’s rather perfect so that Haruhi isn’t overwhelmed on his first day,” Kyoya said as he looked into his little book with notes.

Takashi had always wondered what he kept in there and if he had more than one since that book never seemed to run out of space. 

“Mm.”

“Look alive guys! Our ladies await us!” Tamaki exclaimed and they all headed towards the entrance of the club and stood in their positions to welcome the girls. 

“Welcome to the host club!” 

Takashi sat at a table with two girls and Honey. He relied on honey to make conversation, he hardly had a thing in common aside from them all being wealthy, and going to the same school there was nothing they had in common. 

“Mori-senpai, are you going to participate in any competitions this year? I would love to see you compete,” The girl on the left said. 

“Yeah.”

“Takashi is going to be doing all sorts of competitions this year! He’s going to be competing again in nationals for kendo this year, aren’t you Takashi?” Honey asked as he stuffed his mouth with cake. 

“Mm.” 

Takashi was bored with trying to entertain the girls already. He would rather practice his swordsmanship. He had recently received a sword from Satoshi as an early birthday gift. His little brother had even gone to the lengths to get the sword blessed. 

“More tea?” Takashi asked as he noticed the girls hardly had any left. 

“If you don’t mind, Mori-senpai.” 

He grabbed the kettle and carefully poured the tea in. Even if he was tired of it, that was no reason to spoil the mood. 

“Speak of the devil! Thanks for doing the shopping little piglet. Did you get everything on our list?” Tamaki said loudly. 

Takashi glanced up to see that Haruhi had returned from his errand, also, did Tamaki call him a piglet?

“Hey, wait a minute, what is this?”

Takashi noticed that Tamaki was holding a container that held a brown substance. He had to admit, it was his first time seeing it too. 

"Just what it looks like. It's coffee,” Haruhi said in a flat tone. 

"I've never seen this brand before. Is this the kind that's already ground?" Tamaki asked causing Haruhi to become irked. 

"What do you mean? It's instant coffee,” Haruhi said. What else had they been expecting? It was pretty cheap and tasted okay, Haruhi preferred tea over coffee. 

"It's instant?" Some of the girls asked as they looked confused. 

"Whoa. I've heard of this before. It's commoners' coffee. You just add hot water!"

Haruhi grew irritated, that was what all coffee was. 

"I didn't know there was such a thing,” A girl piped out. 

"So it's true then. Poor people don't even have enough time to grind their own coffee beans,” Another girl asked. 

“Mm-hmm!"

"Commoners are pretty smart," Kyoya said as he popped up from nowhere. 

Haruhi noticed that the majority of girls had crowded around and the other hosts, except for the tallest and smallest. 

"100 grams for 300 yen?" The twins asked in unison. 

“That's a lot less than we normally pay," Kaoru said. 

All these rich people did was nit pit, it was getting annoying.

"I'll go back and get something else. Excuse me for not buying you guys expensive coffee,” Haruhi slightly bit out. 

"No, I'll keep it,” Tamaki said as he stopped Haruhi. 

The girls gasped as they saw “an act of courage.”

"I'm going to give it a try,” Tamaki proclaimed like he was going to do something outrageous. "I will drink this coffee!"

The girls applauded and all Haruhi could think of was how she should have never left the classroom that day. 

"Alright Haruhi, get over here and make me some of this commoners' coffee,” Tamaki said as he headed towards a table. 

‘I hate all these damn rich people.’ 

Haruhi lingered where she was, she had to get a breather before she lashed out at them. Suddenly, an entitle feminine voice spoke up. 

“Oh Tamaki, now you're taking the joke too far. Your palate won't be able to stomach that crap. You don't have to drink it just because he bought it,” A girl with a rather unique hair color spoke up. 

“Huh?” Haruhi asked. 

"I'm sorry. I was talking to myself."

“Um,” Haruhi muttered out of the uncomfortable position she was in. 

She was already at her limit with these idiots and this girl was being classist for no reason and Haruhi wanted nothing more than to put her in her place. Verbally of course. 

“Haruhi!” Tamaki called out. 

“Eh, I'm comin'!” Haruhi said as she rushed over to make them instant coffee. 

“Takashi,” Honey said softly as they watched from a distance. 

“Yeah,” Takashi replied as his eyes were still fixated on Princess Seika Ayanokoji. 

He was aware of her royal blood but he also knew what she was like when she thought no one was looking. She had made one of his regulars run out crying one day when he had left to get napkins. She had not realized he was hiding behind a pillar when he noticed the other girl shaking and decided to eavesdrop. 

Mitskuni was aware of her as well, though they stayed shut about it as they had to get more proof. 

He looked away as she turned her head towards them and Honey acted sleepy as Takashi lowered himself so he could get on his back. 

“I’m so tired,” Honey said with a fake yawn as they headed to their next appointment. 

“I’m sorry, I’m late,” Honey yawned out as he rubbed his eye to cover why they were the slightest late. 

“Honey-kun! Mori-kun!” The girls greeted them 

“We’ve been waiting this whole time for you!” 

“I’m sorry, I was waiting for Takashi to get out of his swordsmanship club but I drifted off to sleep and I still seem to be sleepy,” Honey lied. 

He understood the importance of pointing out that Takashi is strong but Takashi was bothered slightly by the lying. 

“How cute!” The girls cooed. 

“Is that boy really a 3rd-year?” Haruhi questioned from a distance. 

“Honey-senpai is a prodigy despite his appearance. And Mori-senpai’s draw is his silent disposition,” Kyoya said as he popped out from nowhere. 

Honey noticed Haruhi and ran over leaving Mori to fend for himself. Honey was excited about befriending Haruhi, he seemed rather levelheaded compared to others. 

“Haru-chan! Haru-chan, want to have some cake with me?” He asked as he spun them around by Haruhi’s arm. 

“Thanks but I don’t really like sweets,” Haruhi said as she tried to stop being dizzy.

“Well, I’ll let you borrow my bunny, Usa-chan!” 

“No, I’m not up for Usa-chan either,” Haruhi said. 

This boy was supposed to be her upperclassmen but he still acted like a child. 

“You don’t like my Usa-chan?” Honey asked as he held out the animal to her. 

Haruhi finally stopped being dizzy and looked at the bunny closer. She smiles as she leaned in and looked at the bunny closer. 

“It is cute, huh?” She asked softly.

Honey’s eyes widened as he flushed slightly. Haruhi was a girl, she had to be! Honey smiled as he handed the bunny to her and turned around. 

“Take good care of it, okay?” Honey asked as he ran off to accompany Mori again. 

He threw himself into the laps of the girls and Mori silently watched him roll around. He had seen him give Usa-chan to Haruhi, he seemed to trust Haruhi and Mori saw no reason for him not to. 

“You'll notice that our club utilizes each man's unique characteristics to cater to the desires of our guests. Just so you know, Tamaki is number one around here. He's the king. His request rate is 70%,” Kyoya explained as Haruhi subconsciously began to play with Usa-chan’s arms. 

“What’s this world coming to?” Haruhi accidentally slipped out as she hugged the bunny. 

“By the way, with your 8 million-yen debt, you are this club’s dog until you graduate- oh pardon me, errand boy,” Kyoya said with one of the fakest and coldest smiles Haruhi had ever seen. “You’re free to run away, but my family employs an able private police force of roughly 100. Do you have a passport?” 

“Huh?” Haruhi muttered in fear and confusion. 

“You're going to have to work hard to pay off that debt, my little nerd,” Tamaki said as he got close and blew into her ear. 

Haruhi gasped as she jumped away from him, “Please don't do that again."

“You need a makeover or no girl's going to look twice at you."

Haruhi stood up straight as she held Usa-chan with one arm, "Yeah, well, I'm not trying to get girls to look at me."

Tamaki pulled out a rose from thin air, "Are you kidding me? That's the most important thing. You have to learn to be a gentleman and please the ladies, like me."

"I just don't think it's all that important."

"Hm?"

"Why should I care about appearances and labels anyway? I mean, all that really matters is what's on the inside right? I don't understand why you even have a host club like this,” Haruhi said as she thought about her father. 

She never thought of him as weird for dressing up in traditional woman fashion for work. She had noticed the looks he got but she never saw anything wrong with it. 

"It's a cruel reality, isn't it? It's not often that God creates a perfect person like moi, beautiful both inside and out,” Tamaki started to pose and Haruhi could almost see rose petals dance around him.

"Say what?"

"I understand how you feel since not everyone is blessed as I am, but you must console yourself. Otherwise, how would you go on living?”

“Huh?”

“And think about this Haruhi. Why do you think they put works of art in museums? Because beauty should be shared with the world, and those born beautiful should,” Tamaki went on but Haruhi stopped paying attention to him. 

‘There's a word to describe people like him…’

“-promote other beautiful things. That's why I started this club in the first place. I did it for those who are-”

‘Hmm. What is it?’

“-starved for beauty. For those working day and night, pursuing beauty. And although-”  
‘Aw man, I wish I could remember that word. Hmmm’ 

“-your looks may be average, and you have a few negative characteristics, I've chosen to share my expertise with you. Here's a tip. When setting down your glass, extend your pinky finger as a cushion, and that way when you set it down you won't be-”

‘Uh’  
“-making a lot of noise. Gentlemen do not-”

‘Maybe…’

“-make loud sounds. Besides,-”

‘ "a pain in the neck"?’

“-a gentleman looks much more refined-”

‘No, there's something that fits him perfectly’ 

“-that way. I like to check my reflection.., but above all else Haruhi, you must remember, how effective a glance to the side can be-”

“Huh. I got it!” 

“Oh, did I strike a chord?” Tamaki asked.

“Obnoxious!" Tamaki’s face paled as he sat in a corner moping. "Uh, I'm sorry Tamaki-senpai."

Takashi smiled as he watched from nearby. He had noticed that Haruhi had stopped paying attention to Tamaki as he started rambling on. He had to admit, the honors student had guts to insult Tamaki like that when his family was the one that provided the scholarship she used to attend. 

He watched as the twins and Kyoya stood close to Haruhi and discussed making him into a host. 

“Excuse us, we’re going to go see Haru-chan!” Honey excused them as they walked over as the twins took off her glasses. 

Honey wanted to see how things went down as they tried to make a girl a host. Tamaki wasted no time in started her transformation, they watched as the twins took her away to get dressed. Kyoya called a hairstylist, and Mori was ordered to go get him contacts. 

Mori took off running towards the doctor, he grabbed Haruhi’s glasses before leaving the club. He wondered how things would turn out now that it seemed like Haruhi would be turned into a host. 

He seemed to be normal compared to many of the others - hosts included - at the school. 

“Taka-bro!” 

Takashi turned to see his younger brother dressed in his martial arts uniform. 

“Satoshi.” 

‘Where are you going? I thought you were in the host club with our cousin?” 

“Errand, need contacts,” Mori explained before nodding and running off to get the contacts. 

Satoshi smiled as he watched his brother leave, he was so cool. 

When Mori had returned, Haruhi had been in the middle of getting his hair done. He waited for him to finish with the others and before long the curtains were pulled back to reveal Haruhi well dressed and he looked cute for a guy. 

“You sure it's really okay for me to keep this uniform?"

“How cute! You’re almost as pretty as a girl!” Tamaki said with tears streaming down his face. 

Honey and Kyoya bit back snickers as they started to talk about how Haruhi could have been a host since the beginning.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll draw in some customers,” Kyoya said as he started to write in his journal. 

"You know, that's just what I was thinking. Our errand boy is moving up the ranks. Starting today, you are an official member of the Host Club! I will personally train you to be a first-rate host. If you can get 100 customers to request your service, we will completely forget about your ¥8,000,000 debt."

"A host?"

“Yup! Lucky for you, our customers are gone for the day but we’ll be meeting tomorrow!” Hikaru exclaimed. 

“Yeah, this gives us time to update the website and maybe have some girls want to request you!” Kaoru said. 

“I’ll make sure to post a picture of you so that we don’t have to resort to your school picture from middle school,” Kyoya said as he lowered his camera with a smile. 

“Right...well if that’s it I have to go make dinner,” Haruhi said as she walked to where she had left her school stuff. 

“Take care and make sure to get ready to impress tomorrow!” Tamaki shouted as Haruhi walked away. 

Honey snickered which caught the attention of Kyoya and Mori, Kyoya smiled as he realized Honey had realized. He had a feeling that the twins knew by the way they watched Haruhi intently. 

Mori looked at his cousin in confusion and Honey smiled up at him. 

“It’s a secret!”

~~~

Haruhi felt out of place as the others headed to tables where some girls had already settled down. All she wanted to do was study but now she could not even try to study in the club since she was a club. Yesterday she tried to sneak in some studying between her errand run and makeover but it did not work out so well. 

“Haruhi, you’ve been requested,” Kyoya said as he once again appeared out of nowhere. 

“Where do I go? What do I do?” Haruhi asked. 

“Follow me, also be nice to the ladies and entertain them,” Kyoya said as they walked to a table with three girls. “This is his first time hosting, please have patience with him and enjoy,” Kyoya said as Haruhi sat down. 

“So, tell me Haruhi-kun. Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do?" One girl asked. 

Another got spoke, "I'm curious, what kind of products do you use on your skin?"

"Yes, it's so pretty!" The third exclaimed. 

‘I can't do this anymore. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.’

"So why did you join the Host Club Haruhi?" The girls asked. 

"Uh…”

‘All I have to do is get 100 customers to request me, and they'll forget about my ¥8,000,000 debt. I know just the story.’

Haruhi began to tell the memory of her mother.

"I see, your mother was sick and passed away ten years ago. Who does the chores around the house?" One girl asked. 

"Oh, I do them myself. My mother taught me. She was an amazing cook, and when she went to the hospital, she left me all kinds of great recipes. It was fun to create each dish, especially when they turned out well, and it made me happy to see my dad enjoy it. I've had a hard childhood, but Dad and I have managed to make it through okay."

"So uh...Is it okay if tomorrow...We request to sit with you again?" The girls asked, when one trailed off another continued. 

Haruhi smiled as she seemed to glow, "Yeah, I'd really appreciate that ladies."

At the rate she was going, she would not have to stay with them until she graduated! Haruhi continued to talk to the girls when Tamaki called her over to introduce her to someone. 

“Excuse me.” 

Haruhi walked over and saw the girl from earlier who had an attitude. 

“I'd like you to meet someone. This is my regular guest, Princess Ayanokoji,” Tamaki said. 

Haruhi knew it was the girl from earlier for sure, she had to be nice. 

She smiled at her, “Miss, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

Tamaki suddenly shot up and embraced her as he spun them around. 

“That was so cute, Haruhi! That air of bashfulness was very good! Super good! Amazingly good!"

Haruhi struggled to get away from him and managed to get her face out of his chest. She spotted Mori and called out to him. 

"Mori-senpai! Help me!"

Takashi made it to her aid in the blink of an eye, he pulled her as gently as he could from Tamaki’s grasp. As he held her, his hand brushed against something, he let out a gasp as he blushed. 

Haruhi was a girl. 

He held her up, unsure whether to apologize or bow to her and ask she forgive him or have her hit him for what he did. 

"Mori-senpai, you really didn’t have to go that far. Come on little one, let Daddy give you a big hug."

"I've already got a dad, I don't need another one,” Haruhi muttered as she was placed down gently by Mori. 

Takashi walked back over to Honey and the girls with the remains of his flushed face. 

“Mitskuni.” 

Honey giggled as he swung his feet, “Takashi just found out a little secret~! Excuse us, I think it’s time for my nap too.” 

The girls wished his sweet dreams and Mori led them into a secluded area. 

“How did you find out? I guess it had to do with your red face,” Honey said. 

Mori blushed as he stared at his hands, he felt horrible for even accidentally touching Haruhi as he did. 

“I guess it happened when you picked her up. I know your family is very strict about apologies, what are you going to do? Want me to help you write her a letter of apology or are you going to let her slap you for what you did by accident?” 

Takashi clenched his fist, he wanted her to hit him for what he did but from what he gathered, Haruhi would not be willing to do such a thing. It went against her morals. 

“Letter.” 

Honey nodded as Mori sat down and Honey went off to the storage room to get stationary. When he came back, he found Takashi in deep thought as to how he was going to write his apology. 

When he noticed the paper, Mori began to write an apology. It took many tries and attempts before Mori wrote one that he thought was appropriate. 

“Are you going to put it in her bag or give it to her directly?” Honey asked as he ate his nth piece of cake. 

“Bag.” 

When they got up, they realized that Haruhi was gone. They looked confused as they looked for her bag but found nothing. 

Mori frowned as he turned to look out the window when he noticed Haruhi in the fountain with Tamaki. Her bag was wet as they fished out her belongings. 

“Takashi?” 

“Yeah.” 

It was clear that she was targetted, he knew it was the Princess. 

“We need to wait a bit more,” Honey said. 

“Mm,” Mori muttered as he walked towards his bag and placed the letter there.

He would give it to her when she came back. However, before he could he got whisked away by a client and then when she came back, Princess had requested her. 

He was wary about the princess but she had a reputation to uphold so she would probably not-

Screaming filled the club as there was a loud clatter. Takashi stood up and walked over towards Haruhi who was hovering over the Princess. The twins wasted no time in throwing water over them and then Tamaki walked over. 

To his delight, Tamaki put two and two together. He and Honey watched as the Princess ran out and Tamaki raised Haruhi’s quota to 1,000 clients. He thought it was rather unfair but they did have an image to uphold. 

He helped clear out the girls as Haruhi got dressed in a spare uniform. 

“She’s gone now so Haru-chan won’t be bullied anymore, right?” 

“Right.” 

They gathered around the changing room when they heard Tamaki scream and realize she was a girl. 

"Listen Senpai, I don't really care whether you guys recognize me as a boy or a girl. In my opinion, it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are rather than for what sex they are,” Haruhi said as she smiled. 

Takashi smiled but still felt guilty about what happened. 

When it came time for them to leave, he approached her. Luckily Tamaki was quarreling with the twins about something so he did not have to worry about them thinking he was trying to do something unhonorable. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Haruhi turned around and looked up at him in confusion. 

“What are you sorry about, senpai?” 

Takashi held out the apology letter and Haruhi took it. She took the letter out and read it. Takashi wrote about how he had accidentally felt her chest when he pulled her away from Tamaki and that was how he found out she was a girl. He apologized for touching her there without permission even on accident and that she was welcome to hit him if she so desired. 

Haruhi smiled as she looked up at Takashi who had been standing with his head down in shame. 

“Senpai, it was an accident and it’s not like you intentionally went there. You thought I was a guy so you grabbed me like that and it happened. It’s fine, I’m not mad and honestly, I didn’t even notice. I appreciate you being honest about it. You’re a great senpai, take care.” 

Takashi watched her leave and he smiled. 

She was special and he was rather interested in seeing how things would turn out for her.


	2. The Beginning of Confusion

The damp, sticky spring air clung to Haruhi as she waited for the bus. She could feel a slight sweat forming on her forehead and her school uniform was starting to feel uncomfortable and too tight. 

“When is the bus getting here? I need to get to school or I’ll miss some of my first class,” Haruhi muttered to herself as she glanced around trying to find a clock to check the time. 

“Miss Fujioka! Is that you?” 

Haruhi turned her head to see one of her neighbors out of her morning walk. 

“Ah, good morning Mrs. Ito!” Haruhi greeted. 

“Didn’t you hear? The busses are going to be at least half an hour late. If you want, I can lend you my daughter’s bike so you can go to school.” 

“Oh really? If that isn’t much of a hassle for you, I would appreciate it!” Haruhi said as she bit back a groan. 

‘I’m going to arrive late so I’ll have to catch up after class. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to finish the work before club activities start…’

Haruhi followed Mrs. Ito to the bike rack and thanked her once again as she got the bike. 

“I’ll return it when I get back, though I tend to stay late for club activities,” Haruhi explained as she walked the bike while walking next to Mrs. Ito near the sidewalk. 

“That’s fine, my daughter caught a really bad cold so she won’t be using it anytime soon,” Mrs. Ito explained. 

“I hope she gets well soon, I have to get going now. Thank you again!” Haruhi said as she got onto the bike and headed towards school. 

“Take care!” 

Haruhi started to pedal and prayed that maybe she would be fast enough to get to school without missing much of a lesson. Her legs started to burn after a while, but she could see the school coming into view. 

It looked ethereal with the morning sun casting a golden hue on it. Haruhi sighed as she picked up her pace once again and as she came onto the school grounds she realized that she had no idea if the school even had a bike rack and she had no lock if there was a bike rack. 

“Oh man,” Haruhi grumbled as she got off the bike and walked it while looking around for a place to lock it to. 

“Excuse me, aren’t you a high schooler? Classes started a few minutes ago,” A male voice said. 

Haruhi turned to see a rather tall student in some sort of martial arts get up...he looked a lot like Takashi.

“I am but I’m running a bit late as you can see. Is there any chance you know where I can put my bike?” Haruhi asked. 

“Mm, I don’t think there are many places to put bikes here. Ah! I can take it to the kendo club to make sure it’s safe, you can come to pick it up after school.”

“That’s very nice of you but I have to stay a bit later than other students. I’m part of a club too you see,” Haruhi said. 

She would be damned if she had to admit to a stranger that she was forced to be part of the host club. 

“That’s no problem, the kendo club stays after school as well. As long as you come by before night I should be there. Here, I’ll take it, you go to class!” 

“Ah, thank you,” Haruhi said as she bowed slightly before turning and running off to class. 

Satoshi watched as the short male ran into one of the hallways, he seemed different from other guys. There was something about him that was different. 

Oh well. 

Satoshi began to walk towards the club room with the bike when the realization hit him like a truck.

“Ah, wait,” Satoshi paused. “I can’t take this to the junior high area, he’ll probably expect it to be in the high school kendo room! Plus, we’re having a match today...”

Satoshi bit his lip before taking out his phone and sending his brother a message letting him in on what happened. He explained that there might be a male student coming in after club hours to pick up a bike and that it would be in the storage room.

He smiled as he walked the bike to the high school kendo club, forgetting to click the send button. 

~~~

The bell signaling the end of class rung, Takashi let out a sigh as he closed his math textbook. The work was not that difficult so he would have more time to spend practicing with his sword after club activities. If he was lucky, he would have few clients and would be able to get homework done. 

He would have finished more if he had not been so distracted. 

“Takashi! Let’s go or else we’ll be late! I don’t want Kyo-chan to get angry at me and order less cake than usual!” Honey said as he held Usa-chan close to his chest. 

Mori could hear the girls swooning in the background. 

“Yeah.” 

Takashi lifted Honey to his shoulders and Honey adjusted himself so he sat properly on Takashi’s shoulders. 

“Let’s go!”

“Mm.” 

Takashi made his way towards the club room, plenty of their classmates greeted them as they passed by. Honey greeted them back as Takashi walked. 

“Takashi, you’re quieter than usual. Is something the matter?” Honey asked once they were going down an empty hall. 

“Hm?” Takashi responded. 

He had been going through school, as usual, he had not noticed if he spoke less than usual since he hardly spoke at all. 

“In history, you seemed to be out of it even though it’s one of your favorite subjects! You didn’t even greet Miss Aoki back when she said good morning.” 

“Ah,” Takashi muttered. 

Mitskuni had realized he was bothered by something, it was not like he could hide much from his cousin since they were always close. Truth was, he was bothered with the idea of their upcoming dance. 

He would have to dance with various girls. It was not like he had no dancing experience, he was light on his feet despite being so big. However, his family was known for being loyal to the Haninozukas but they were also very loyal to friends and lovers. Even though he did not have a lover, dancing with so many women made him unease. 

It made him feel like he was wronging his future lover. 

“...Are you sure nothing is bothering you?” Honey asked as he looked down to see his cousin’s face etched out in his usual unbothered look. 

“Yeah.”

“Then why have you just been standing in front of the doors to the club for a minute?” 

Takashi’s face burned red as he grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open. Honey giggled at the action. 

“You’re so silly, Takashi!” 

“Oh? What happened?” Hikaru asked as he held a toucan. 

“Mori-senpai is usually so composed. What could be so funny?”Kaoru piped up as he appeared from behind his twin. 

“Oh, nothing~! Say, are we doing a tropical theme today?” Honey asked as the two looked at the jungle plants and animals in the club room. 

The room also felt hot. 

“Yup, our king decided to go with a Bali theme today and the outfits were made rather quickly considering their quality and for a good price,” Kyoya said from the corner as he punched numbers into a calculator. 

“Welcome! Hurry, hurry, we need to get the rest set up in time for the guests!” Tamaki said as he shook a tray with teacups in an obnoxious way. 

“Don’t forget, we also have to discuss the dance. It is coming up rather quickly,” Kyoya said. 

“Oh right, the dance,” The twins said with disinterest. 

“Ah! Where’s Haru-chan?” Honey asked as he looked around from the top of Mori’s shoulders. 

He even climbed down and peered behind each of the members. 

“Yes, where is my precious little daughter? Aren’t you two in the same class with her? Why didn’t you walk her down here yourselves? She could have been harassed for being a commoner or gotten lost on her way here! Don’t worry my sweet daughter, Daddy is coming!” Tamaki shouted as he began to run towards the door. 

Kyoya sighed as he caught Tamaki by the collar of his uniform and the twins spoke up. 

“Well boss, we were going to walk with her,” Kauro started. 

“But when we got to her, she was already gone,” Hikaru finished. 

“After all, she did come in late today. She had to catch up on her work,” The twins finished in unison. 

Takashi’s attention focused on the last bit the twins had said. Haruhi is an honors student, she did not seem like the type to skip even a second of class. He wondered what happened. Perhaps she had slept in late?

“She was late?! Oh no! What if she got evicted from her home and had to stay in the streets for the night and that was why she was late for school today?! What if she had to fight a stray dog for breakfast?! My daughter cannot live in those conditions! I’ll have the maids clear out two rooms for Haruhi and her father!” Tamaki shouted as he pulled out his phone which Kyoya snatched from him. 

“Is that true, Tama-chan? Is Haruhi really on the streets?” Honey asked with tears in his eyes.

“You know boss, I think Haruhi would much rather stay with us at our place. We could cuddle up with her and keep her warm from those cold streets and with two of us, it’s double the fun,” The twins said as they caressed one another’s face while grinning at Tamaki. 

Takashi bit his cheek as he looked at one of the flowers to calm himself. He knew how Tamaki could get but he was being too extreme on Haruhi, she was not from a rich family but that did not mean she was poor. Also, the twins joking about taking advantage of Haruhi if she was in such a situation made his blood boil.

They needed to learn to respect Haruhi. 

“Ha-” Takashi got cut off by Kyoya. 

“Will you guys stop being so dramatic? Haruhi is fine, it seems like the bus she usually takes to school was late so she either took that bus or she walked which made her late. She still has a home, now onto the party…” 

Takashi stopped listening to Kyoya as he explained what arrangements would be made for the dance. Ever since Haruhi had joined, he found himself wanting to stand up for her much as Kyoya did. Although Kyoya never really did it to stand up for her, he merely did it to stop the others from rambling on about her. 

“Shall we do it like old times in the west where each person had a program with who you will dance with next? Except have it reversed so that the girls sign up for us?” Kyoya asked. 

“That could be fun. We can make a competition and see who gets the most requests!” The twins said in excitement. 

“Ah, I must decline. If that were to happen, I would have too many dances to count and I wouldn’t be able to fit in a dance with Haruhi!” Tamaki countered. 

For once Takashi agreed with something Tamaki said recently. However, his reasons were different. 

If the girls were able to sign up like they did when requesting hosts, he would no doubt get plenty of girls. However, because of his intimidating size and few words, he was seen as mostly unapproachable by many girls. That would all work in his favor if girls went up to them and asked to dance since it would cause fewer girls to come to him if any. 

Though, he would have to stay away from his cousin since he would give the girls a bit more confidence to talk to him. 

“I think so too, I think it will be cute seeing the girls all flustered as they go to ask us to dance,” Honey said with a giggle. 

“Mitskuni,” Takashi said in a warning tone. 

One thing that Takashi had witnessed over the years was how his cousin liked to play with girls despite his cute and innocent act. Mitskuni was actually a playboy without the dating part. He would flirt with girls but then make them think he was just being cute and would watch them get hurt and flustered. 

Honey just smiled and laughed as none of the others realized exactly what he said, except for Kyoya. 

“Then it’s settled, we’ll have the girls come up to us and ask to dance,” Kyoya said.

“Yeah!” 

“Mm.” 

The guys split up and finished setting up the treats and sitting areas. They got dressed and slipped their teardrops into their clothes as Tamaki and Takashi watched.

Neither used eyedrops, Tamaki could naturally tear up while Takashi could not plus it did not go with his character type. He could not recall the last time he had cried either and him using teardrops to fake cry felt like he was lying and he hated lying. 

“Say, we’re all ready for the girls, where’s Haruhi?” Hikaru asked. 

“Maybe she went home?” Kaoru asked. 

“What?! My little girl would never skip out on club activities!” Tamaki shouted as Takashi picked up a pineapple. 

He wondered if it was any good. 

Haruhi froze as the bells rang out through the library. She let out a groan as she closed her notebook, she had been so wrapped up in her work that she had completely lost track of time and was going to be late for the club. 

“They’ll give me a lot of grief if I’m late,” Haruhi groaned as she ran out of the library with her things and towards the club. 

She huffed as she went up the stairs, she had had a rough day and yet she still had to suffer from the host club. Not a day went by where she had not thought about what would have happened if she had not broken the vase. 

Haruhi twisted the door handle and pushed the door open. When she opened the door fully, she saw a tropical scene with palm trees and flowers along with tropical flowers. 

‘What’s this? Where am I?’ 

She was positive this was the third music room, had she mixed up the room and entered some sort of tropical club? 

Damn rich people. 

“Welcome!” The chorus voice of the hosts rang out. 

Haruhi felt herself go pale in disbelief as she saw them dressed in only colorful plants and Tamaki wore an outfit different from the rest. She felt chills on her skin as she heard a snake slithering up a tree branch near where she stood. 

‘Mother in heaven… This is the Ouran Host Club that I joined last week.’

“You finally made it Haruhi, you’re so late,” The twins chimed in as a toucan plopped itself on her head. 

“According to the calendar, it should be early April right now.”

“Fearing the chill and curling yourself up in a kotatsu is nonsense! What do you think we have this flawless air conditioning for?” Tamaki asked as Takashi ran around while carrying Honey. 

“Do you have a problem with how we run our club, Haruhi? Be careful what you say. You owe us eight million yen, remember?” Kyoya asked slyly. 

Haruhi let out a groan as she recalled the vase breaking. 

“Gentlemen, don’t bundle up in bulky clothing. It may be chilly, early spring out there in the real world, but here at the club we want to surprise our chilly litter kittens with a warm, tropical paradise,” Tamaki said as he wrapped an arm around Haruhi’s shoulders and Honey screamed with joy in the background. “Oh yes! We’ve turned this place into nirvana. A balmy tropical island of everlasting summer!”

‘That’s funny, ‘cause I feel a massive chill right now,’ Haruhi thought in a rather flat tone. 

“Senpai, would you please not touch me?” Haruhi asked as she pinched his hand and slid it off her shoulder. 

“Why my darling? Daddy just wants to feel close to you!” 

“I already have a father, I don’t need you to act like one,” Haruhi said as she walked away from him. 

“Oh come on! I even got us matching outfits! I’m the king and you’re my queen!” Tamaki shouted as he seemed to pull out the outfit from nowhere. 

“No way in hell, senpai,” Haruhi said as she walked away and Tamaki fell to the ground in despair. 

“Haru-chan! Wanna have some pineapple with us? Takashi just ripped it open!” Honey exclaimed as he held up a chunk of pineapple with the tangy yet acidic juice ran between his fingers. 

Haruhi looked at Takashi and saw him holding two halves of pineapple and juice was leaking past his fingers. Haruhi sighed as she grabbed a napkin from a nearby tray and walked up to him. 

“Senpai, you have to be careful. There’s a lot of juice that’s going to make the floor sticky and it could lead to ants. Ants are a real pest to get rid of,” Haruhi slightly scolded as she gently grabbed Mori’s wrist and wiped at the juice before repeating the action with the other hand. 

“Sorry,” Mori said with a slight blush. 

Haruhi’s hands were very soft and he had never had someone be so gentle to him outside of nurses. Even his mother would be rough when she had to fix him up. 

“It’s good. Try it,” Mori said as he handed her the bigger piece. 

Haruhi looked up at Mori and smiled, “Thanks, Mori-senpai.” 

“Yeah…” Mori replied as Haruhi took the piece and her face broke out in a euphoric state. 

The two cousins smiled at her reaction and they barely finished before the guests arrived. 

Haruhi helped the other hosts since she did not have a guest until a little later. She was helping out Tamaki while he was with several girls. He was going on about something that she blocked out when he suddenly mentioned a dance that would happen in a week. 

‘We’re throwing a party?’

“We’ve rented the school’s largest hall,” Hikaru stated. 

“It’s the perfect place for dancing,” Kaoru finished. 

“But I really wanted to spend it alone with you, Kaoru,” Hikaru said as he brought his face close to his twins. 

“Don’t be upset, Hikaru. I know exactly how you feel,” Kaoru said as the girls freaked out. 

Haruhi frowned as she watched it happened, “It seems like our customers are more highly strung than usual.”

“Showing some skin provides popular with the ladies,” Kyoya said as he wrote down things on his clipboard. 

“So are you the one who came up with this tropical paradise idea?” 

“I have no decision-making authority. All club policies have been laid out by the club’s king, Tamaki. But I guess there’s no harm in admitting to casually slipping a Bali photo book onto his desk,” Kyoya said with a smile as he pushed up his glasses. 

‘So he’s the real brains behind the operation,’ Haruhi thought as she looked away as she headed to her first guest. 

“Ta-da!” Honey said as he showed off a necklace of flowers. 

“Oh, you’re so cute, Honey!” The girls said in unison. 

“I love these Balinese flowers. We had them flown in. Takashi!” Honey shouted as climbed the taller male’s body and slipped a matching flower necklace on his neck.

‘Where did Mori-senpai get another pineapple?’ 

“There! We match!” Honey said as he hugged Takashi who looked rather bored. 

‘I’m still thoroughly confused by the two of them.’ 

“Um, Haruhi. Aren’t you going to wear a tropical outfit like the other boys?” One of the girls with her asked. 

“I’d like to see that,” The other girl said. 

“Well, no, I--I just don’t think it’s appropriate to wear anything but early spring attire in early spring, you know?” Haruhi deflected. 

“Wow Haruhi, you’re really faithful to the different seasons, aren’t you?” The first girl asked. 

“I think that’s great! I hope the cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the night of the party” A second one piped in. 

“The two of us dancing among the cherry blossoms. It’s so dreamy,” A third girl said. 

“You really think so? You know ladies, I think it’s so cute when you dream like that,” Haruhi complimented. 

“Excuse me,” A fourth girl said as she walked up. “I think it’s time for the hosts to switch clients.” 

Haruhi looked up at her, she had short hair and she was alone. 

“You must be my next appointment, MIss--?” Haruhi felt flustered, she was rather bad with names. 

“My anime’s Kanako. Kanako Kasugazaki. You’re even cuter than I expected. I’ve decided, from now on you’re going to be my new favorite host, Haruhi.” 

“Huh? But you haven’t even gotten to know me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered but shouldn’t you get to know me even just slightly?” Haruhi asked as the three girls from before left. 

“I can tell, that look in your eyes, it’s special,” Kanako said and Haruhi laughed nervously. 

She rarely got any one-on-one requests. 

As Haruhi began her rather uncomfortable session, Takashi sat at a table with his homework out. Mitskuni was talking to the girls about all sorts of desserts so he would have plenty of time to work without the girls requiring his attention. 

His pen glided against the pages as he carried numbers and broke down equations. Before long, he was done and Kyoya walked up to him. 

“It’s time to start cleaning up, could you help get the animals into their cages to be sent back?” 

“Mm.”

Takashi silently rounded up the animals and put them into their rightful cages as the other hosts helped clear out guests and Kyoya let the movers into the room which cleared out the room in record speed. 

“Senpai, would you like to wear one of our mother’s latest suit designs for the party?” Kaoru asked as Hikaru seemed to ask Honey. 

“Sure.” 

“Great! I’ll have Kyoya-senpai send in your measurements so your suit will come in next week.” 

“Okay.” 

Mori walked over to the table for their usual meeting about how much the club made that day. He stood next to Haruhi, he left enough space so that he was not in her personal bubble but Honey stood between them. He handed Haruhi Usa-chan and Haruhi hugged the bunny so Takashi felt that she was comfortable with the lack of personal space. 

“I can’t take this anymore,” Tamaki mumbled as he sat away from the others eating instant ramen. 

Haruhi had brought it for a quick lunch one day and Tamaki made her buy him some which he refused to share with the others. 

“Hey Boss, why don’t you stop eating that commoner’s ramen and come over here to help us with the party planning,” Hikaru scolded. 

“Does it really bother you that Princess Kasuga has taken a liking to Haruhi?” Kaoru asked. 

Haruhi shook her head as she handed Honey the bunny back before she started to use it as a stress reliever. 

“He shouldn’t be surprised. She’s had the illness for a while now, hasn’t she?” Kyoya asked as he typed away on his laptop. 

“What illness?” Haruhi asked in worry. 

“She’s got the host-hopping disease,” Kaoru said.

“A.k.a. The never-the-same-boy-twice disease,” His twin finished. 

“Usually our customers choose a favorite host and then see them regularly. However, Princess Kanako tends to change her favorites on a regular basis,” Kyoya said without looking up. 

“That’s right! ‘Cause before she chose you, she was with Tama-chan!” Honey said as he looked at what Kyoya typed up. 

“Oh, so he’s upset because I took her from him,” Haruhi said flatly. 

“Shut up! I couldn’t care less!” Tamaki yelled in her face. “Ugh. I’m running out of patience! Haruhi! It’s time you started dressing like a girl!” Tamaki shouted. 

“Huh?” Haruhi asked in disbelief. 

Takashi glanced at Haruhi, he wondered how she would react. He would support her if she decided to argue with Tamaki for being insensitive or would stay calm if she did not react negatively. 

“I don’t understand how you could be so popular with the ladies when you yourself are a lady! No one in the entire school knows the truth except for those of us here!” 

“Yeah, she opted out of taking gym classes,” Hikaru said. 

“And the attendance numbers are all mixed together, so no one can tell,” Kaoru finished. 

Tamaki ran off and dragged out a chest where he rummaged through it in front of the others. 

“That’s enough, Haruhi. Now you listen to Daddy. Daddy wants you to go back to the way you were!” Tamaki shouted as he showed off an enlarged framed picture of Haruhi with long hair. 

“Don’t go blowing up my photos without asking me first!” Haruhi shouted back. 

Takashi remained silent as he walked with the rest of the hosts and looked at the picture. Haruhi was still as pretty as when she had long hair. 

“The more I look at this picture, the more amazed I am. How could this possibly become that?” Hikaru asked as he pointed to the picture of Haruhi with long hair to one of her on one of her first days of school. 

‘Where are they getting these pictures from?’ Haruhi wondered.

Everyone turned their heads to look at her and Haruhi decided to explain.

“The day before school started, one of the kids in my neighborhood got some gum in my hair. It’s a real pain to get gum out of long hair, so I decided to cut it all off. I didn’t care if I looked like a dude.”

“A girl should never refer to herself as a dude!” Tamaki shouted in her face. 

Takashi smiled at Haruhi, she had a lot of self-respect and it made her that much more impressive to him. 

“Momma! Haruhi’s using those dirty boy words again!” Tamaki shouted with tears running down his face. 

Takashi’s smile quickly faded as he watched the club president overreact. He was still having a hard time understanding why he could not just accept that Haruhi was special and had a lot of self-respect. 

“I’m sorry but who is “Momma”?” Kaoru asked. 

“Based on club position, I assume it’s me,” Kyoya said as Tamaki continued to cry. 

“Look. I don’t see what you’re crying about. Working as a host, I can pay back more of my debt. It’ll never happen if I’m just an errand boy,” Haruhi scolded. 

Hikaru spoke up, “Hate to change the subject but do you have formal dancing experience? You’ll need it at the party.”

Haruhi’s face morphed into shock, “Uh, no, but the party doesn’t have anything to do with my quota, right? I’m not interested in going to events so if I could be excused-” 

“Definitely not. A refined gentleman must know how to dance. If you want to live the life of a host that badly, you’re going to have to show us how far you’re willing to go, Haruhi. I order you to master dancing the waltz in one week, and you will demonstrate it for us at the party or I’ll tell the entire school that you’re a girl and knock you back down to errand boy!” Tamaki threatened. 

“Ah, but I don’t have much time outside of school. I barely have enough time to do chores and study after club hours,” Haruhi tried to wiggle her way out. 

“Then we won’t see any customers during club hours so that you can practice. We can even get one of your guests to help you practice,” Kyoya said. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll compensate for our loses in another way.” 

Haruhi felt a chill run down her spine as she saw Kyoya smile. She would probably have to offer up the blood of her firstborn. 

“Alright...I guess I’ll be going, oh wait,” Haruhi paused as she remembered the bike. “Do any of you guys know where the kendo club room is?” 

“Huh? Why do you have to go there?” Kaoru asked. 

“Are you meeting a guy~” Hikaru teased as he and Kaoru slyly walked up to her. 

Haruhi let out a sigh as she walked away from them and towards her school bag. 

“Technically yes-”

“No! As your Daddy, I forbid you! Momma, tell Haruhi she’s not allowed to have a boyfriend!” 

“Senpai, would you calm down? I just need to get my bike from one of the members who was nice enough to put it in the club room since there are no bike racks. If it weren’t for him, I probably would have missed more work and got here even later,” Haruhi said. 

“Takashi can show you! Can’t you Takashi?” Honey suddenly offered. 

Takashi glanced at Honey who seemed to have an innocent smile but he caught the glint in his eye. 

“Sure.” 

“Really? Thank you, Mori-senpai.” 

“Wait! I’ll go too!” Tamaki offered.

“Us too! We haven’t been to the kendo club room in a while,” The twins said. 

“You three have to stay. As the club president, you have to finalize these plans and you two need to read over this and tell me if anything is missing before I send it to your mother to get the outfits,” Kyoya ordered. 

“But Kyoya!” Tamaki whined.

“I could simply erase all the information and have you scramble to figure out everything before next week,” Kyoya threatened. 

“Oh fine,” Tamaki responded in a defeated tone. 

“Take care of Haruhi, I’m going to get going! I don’t want to miss dessert!” Honey gleefully said. 

Takashi watched his cousin walking away, he wondered why he had offered him up and if he had something up his sleeve. 

“Shall we get going, Mori-senpai?” 

“Mm.” 

The two walked out of the club room and started to make their way down the stairs. 

“The high school club?” Takashi asked. 

“Oh, no. I ran into a junior high student. You see, I was running late for the first class of the day and a student that was participating in club activities took my bike so that means it had to have been a junior high student. That or a really tall elementary school student.” 

Takashi let out a gentle yet deep laugh which made Haruhi’s face flush just slightly. 

‘I think, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard him laugh...It’s nice,’ Haruhi thought to herself.

“Follow me,” Takashi said as they headed towards the junior high campus. 

“Say, how come you know where the club is? Are you friends with some of the club members?” Haruhi innocently asked. 

Takashi bit back another laugh, he did not want to make Haruhi upset with him by making her think he was laughing at her. He just found it amusing that she asked the national champion of kendo that. 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Takashi mumbled out. 

She would find out one day about his family and such. He would rather keep that a secret, for now, he did not want her to be scared of him. 

“You’re so cool, senpai.” 

Takashi felt his cheeks warmed up. He looked away from Haruhi, he did not want her to see he was embarrassed by the compliment.

“Thank you.” 

Haruhi glanced up at the taller male, he looked like he would be popular. From what she gathered, he was rather taciturn and when he did speak, his responses were very short and blunt. She wondered what it would be like if he spoke just a tad more but she did not want to make him uncomfortable. 

“Oh. They’re not here.” 

Haruhi looked in front of her to see a note on the door saying the kendo club was away for a competition. 

“Oh no, that’s my neighbor’s bike. I can’t show up home without it!” Haruhi said in a panic. 

“Hold this,” Takashi said as he handed Haruhi his school bag. 

She took it, she was surprised at how heavy it was and how Mori carried it around like it was nothing when it almost knocked her over. 

“What are you doing, senpai?” Haruhi asked as he took off his school blazer. 

Haruhi took his blazer and watched as he rolled up his sleeves, and loosened his tie. 

“Getting your bike.” 

Haruhi watched with wide eyes as Mori put some distance between the building and himself before he ran and jumped. He was able to reach the ledge of the roof and she watched as he pulled himself up. He was more athletic than she thought he was. 

She wondered if it had to do with what his family did or if he just exercised a lot? 

She highly doubted every student knew how to do that, she would be surprised if the twins even knew how to climb a tree. 

“Senpai! Are you sure this is safe?” Haruhi shouted as Takashi started to reach for the roof.

“No.” 

Haruhi’s eyes widened as he pulled himself over the roof and he suddenly disappeared from view. 

“Senpai!” 

Takashi let out a grunt as he clapped his hands together to brush off the dust. He looked up and managed to find the door that led to the building. He grabbed the handle and his eyes narrowed when it was locked. 

Takashi closed his eyes and kicked down the door. He would tell Satoshi so he could get it fixed. 

He headed down into the main building before taking off his shoes and carrying them. Takashi used the light from his cellphone and the wispy golden streaks from the setting sun to find the light switches. 

He squinted at the sudden change of light as he walked over to the door and placed his shoes in the shoe section. He then turned to the door and unlocked it. 

He came face-to-chest with Haruhi who looked worried. 

“Senpai, I was so worried! You said it wasn’t safe and then you went silent, I was worried you were hurt!” 

Takashi blushed in embarrassment as he took a step back from the sudden physical interaction. 

"Sorry."

"It's fine, could you help me find my bike?"

"Mm."

"Oh, am I supposed to take off my shoes too?"

"Yeah."

Takashi walked towards the storage room if anywhere it would be there. He was surprised to find that it was unlocked, he was going to have to bring that up to Satoshi too. 

He peered inside and frowned when he spotted no sign of a bike. The closest thing he found was an exercise wheel they would use to strengthen the core muscles. 

"Senpai, is it in there?" 

Takashi turned around to see Haruhi with a slightly flushed face. He realized how warm it was and she must have been moving a lot warming her up even more. 

"No."

"Where could it be?" 

"I'll call someone," Mori said as he pulled out his phone and started to call Satoshi. 

He was hesitant about whether he would pick up since he was at a competition but his brother picked up rather quickly. 

"Hey, Taka-bro! What's up?"

"I'm looking for a bike in the club," Takashi explained. 

"Unless the others moved it, it should be the first thing you see in the storage room."

Takashi’s eyes raked over the room but found nothing of the kind. 

"In the text I sent, I told you that."

"Text?"

"Yeah, I sent you one earlier this morning during your first hour"

Takashi opened his phone to find no recent message from Satoshi. 

"I didn't get it."

Satoshi frowned as he looked back at the messages and his eyes widened as he saw he had never sent it. 

"Ah! I never clicked send. I'm so sorry! It should be in the storage room of the high school kendo club. I have to go now, my turn is coming up."

"Thanks. Good luck." 

"Thanks, bro!" 

Takashi closed his phone and turned to Haruhi. 

"It's in the high school club," Takashi explained. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry, senpai. I never should've assumed! I must've wasted your time with all of this," Haruhi said apologetically. 

"You didn't. Don't worry now follow me."

Haruhi nodded as they walked over to the entrance, put on their shoes, and headed towards the high school kendo club.

As they did, they did not realize that Tamaki and the twins were rushing over to the junior high club. They had checked the high school club but were told that they had not gone there and perhaps they went to the junior high club.

When Haruhi and Takashi arrived, they heard shouting coming from the club. 

"Wait, I'll go in," Takashi said and Haruhi frowned slightly.

"Mori-senpai, I can go in. You don't need to try and protect me or something."

Takashi shook his head, "They're practicing. If someone new appears, they'll get distracted."

Haruhi turned to look at the room where various voices were mixing together in perfect sync. It sounded like one powerful voice. 

"Wouldn’t they get distracted by you too then?”

“No. I come often.” 

“Okay, fine,” Haruhi relented. 

Takashi nodded as he walked in. He casually walked through and heard the club members yell louder and move more. 

Whenever he was there, they always tried to impress him and he did not want Haruhi to see that. She would find it weird if everyone seemed to be trying even harder.

He opened the storage room and saw the bike. He carried it out and Haruhi smiled at him. 

"Thanks, senpai."

"No problem."

The two of them walked together towards the front of the school grounds and by then it was pretty dark. The only reason they could still see fine was because of how good the lighting was at the school.

However, they went out as soon as they took a few steps away from the school gate. 

"Do you want a ride?" Takashi asked Haruhi. 

"No thanks, I'll just wait for the bus."

"I'll wait too," Mori responded. 

"You don't have to do that, senpai. I'm sure your busy enough as it is," Haruhi said as she was ready to head towards the bus stop alone. 

"Not particularly,” Takashi said as he thought about his sword. 

“Also, you don’t have to stay with me to protect me or anything. I’m not weak and I don’t need anyone to protect me,” Haruhi said. 

‘I bet he’s like the twins and Tamaki-senpai who think I’m just a girl and I can’t do anything without the aid of a guy.’ 

“I know. It’s not safe at night for a male or female.” 

“Senpai, do you think I’m weak?” Haruhi suddenly asked as walked to the bus stop. 

“No.”

Haruhi abruptly stoped and Takashi did the same as he looked down at her and wondered what she was going to respond. She had a lot of pride and self-respect and he wondered how she was going to respond to him. 

“But I’m a girl,” Haruhi egged on. 

He was the same as the others. He would look down on her because she is a girl. She just had to bring it out of him.

“You’re strong. Whether you’re a girl or a guy.”

His eyes widened whenever he saw her eyes watering. Had he offended her? What had he done wrong? Perhaps he was reading her completely wrong and she wanted to be seen as a weak girl? 

He doubted the last thought was true. 

“Does it bother you that I don’t dress or really act like a girl?”

“No. You can act however you want.” 

Haruhi smiled as she wiped her eyes and laughed, “Jeez, I can’t believe I’m getting emotional about someone not caring about me crossdressing. The other hosts and even my father has made me forget that it’s none of their concern what I dress or act like.” 

Her father?

“Hey, Mori-senpai?” Haruhi asked as they continued walking to the bus stop. 

“Yeah?”

“What do you see me as?” 

Takashi blinked twice before smiling, “Honors student Fujioka.”

Haruhi laughed as they arrived at the bus stop. She finally felt like she was being treated as a person. 

Not as a commoner. Not as a crossdresser. Not as a girl. Not as a boy. Not as a debtor. Not as a host. Not as a toy. Not as an outsider. 

She was being seen as herself. 

“Thanks, Mori-senpai.” 

Takashi was still confused as he looked at how happy she seemed to be, “Yeah.” 

They turned their heads at the sound of a car coming and saw the bright lights of a bus coming down the street. 

“This was fun, senpai. We should talk again.” 

“Yeah,” Mori responded with a twitch in his stomach. 

The bus pulled up in front of them and Takashi offered her to put the bike on the rack while she got on. Haruhi agreed and as she walked down to an empty seat, she looked out and saw Takashi standing at the bus stop with his normal unbothered look. 

Suddenly, their eyes met and his lips showed a slight smile. 

Haruhi felt her heart stop for a second as she smiled and waved back at him. 

The bus pulled away and Haruhi was stuck wondering what was different about her senpai in that split second. 

~~~

“Don’t you guys think you should apologize to Haru-chan?” Honey asked the twins as they ran away from a very angry Tamaki who was also crying. 

The party had ended after the unexpected kiss. 

Tamaki had begun to chase the twins around and Kyoya politely sent the girls home. Kanako and her fiancee had stayed a bit longer to thank them for getting them to clear up their relationship and to clear up that the kiss did not mean anything. 

That left just the seven of them left in the large hall.

Haruhi sighed as she tugged on her suit. 

“Look guys, that kiss didn’t mean anything to me so I’m not going to count it as my first kiss. Will you three stop messing around and help us finish cleaning up?” Haruhi asked. 

“You know, it kind of is your fault for having the party end earlier than expected,” Kyoya said from behind Haruhi and she could hear him clicking away on his calculator. 

“Hey! That never would’ve happened if you hadn’t given the twins the idea to make something happen,” Haruhi quickly defended as she turned to see him clicking away.

“While that is merely a speculation. However, since it is technically the twin’s fault, I’ll just have them pay for it,” Kyoya said. 

“Hey! It’s not our fault, it’s Tamaki-senpai’s fault for pushing her and causing the kiss!” The twins debated. 

“Not, that’s not true! I went to protect my precious baby and if it’s anyone fault, it’s Princess Kanako’s and her fiancee’s for not communicating!” Tamaki shouted. 

“I don’t think anyone should be charged, it was an accident,” Honey said.

“Mm.”

“Yeah!” Haruhi also agreed.

Kyoya let out a sigh, “Fine. Let’s discuss this later. We should put away the things from our club and let the cleaners do their jobs.” 

“I bet I can take back more stuff than you, Kaoru,” Hikaru challenged. 

“You wish,” Kaoru replied. 

The twins grabbed armfuls of things brought from the club and dashed off. 

“You’re not going to make my precious daughter do labor! I’ll carry it all, don’t worry, Haruhi! Daddy will take it all!” Tamaki shouted as he grabbed an assortment of items and left. Kyoya rolled his eyes as he walked over to the remains of the tables and took two before leaving. 

“I’ll take the trash out!” Honey shouted as he ran over to the bags of trash and carried them out.

Haruhi and Takashi were left alone in the empty hall. 

“What a shame, I learned to dance only to get snatched away before I even got to dance with anyone,” Haruhi muttered as she walked towards the only item left in the room. 

The music box. 

“And they left behind the heaviest thing too,” Haruhi said with a sigh. 

“Senpai-” Haruhi cut herself off as she saw Takashi bent down slightly and offering his hand to her. 

“Are you asking me to dance with you?” 

“Mm.” 

Haruhi smiled and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. 

“I never learned how to dance in the part of a girl. I don’t want to step on you by accident, senpai.” 

“Close your eyes. Follow the music. Trust me,” Takashi said and Haruhi hesitantly nodded and took his hand.

Takashi reached behind her and began to play a new song. 

The gentle strumming of a violin filled the room as Takashi pulled back, bringing Haruhi with him. She closed her eyes and began to sway with him.

The deep sound of a bass rang out and it sounded like the two instruments were dancing together in a rhythmic way. 

Haruhi peeked an eye open, she was beyond surprised that she had not stepped on him especially because of their height difference. Her eyes widened when she saw him with his eyes closed as well.

They were simply two bodies following the sound of music. 

Takashi opened his eyes when he felt her staring at him. His hard gray eyes stared into her soft brown eyes. 

“You’re a really good dancer, senpai,” Haruhi managed out. 

“You too,” Takashi responded as he gave her a spin. 

Neither spoke more on it as they danced their way into the middle of the hall. The song came to an end and they were left in the middle, pressed close to one another. 

Neither wanted to move and break the spell that had been cast over them. 

Suddenly, clapping rang out and the two broke apart and turned to see Honey smiling as he hugged Usa-chan. 

“You two were amazing! I’m glad I got you to see you dance, Haru-chan!”

“Er, thanks. How long have you been watching?” Haruhi asked as a slight blush started to form. 

“Towards the very beginning. I was going to the club room but when I was walking past I heard some pretty music playing and saw you two dancing!” Honey said with a giggle. 

“Don’t tell the others or they’ll make me dance with them too. They’ll make it into a competition or something weird,” Haruhi said and HOney nodded. 

“I won’t tell anyone!” 

Honey smiled and looked at Takashi who was looking away with an unreadable expression. 

‘Takashi has really good senses. He should have been able to sense my presence, why did he not react when I showed up? Was he really surprised at my presence?’ Honey wondered as his cousin walked over to the music box to stop it from playing the song it was running. 

“Honey-senpai, will you help us carry this back to the club room? It’s really heavy so I think the more help we get the better,” Haruhi said. 

Honey giggled as he looked at Haruhi and then his cousin. He knew Takashi could carry it by himself but he decided to play along. 

“Of course!” 

As Honey walked over with Haruhi, Takashi was in deep thought. 

He wondered why he had not been able to sense his cousin at all. When he danced earlier, he had been fully aware of how many people were around him at all times. Even when he was getting a drink at the drink table, he had sensed when someone was nearing him. 

Yet, in the empty hall with only Haruhi, he had not been able to sense someone else. 

He looked down at Haruhi as they carried it back to the club room, why had he not been able to sense Miskuni when it had just been them?


	3. An interesting Physical Exam

The morning was barely rising and yet Takashi was already awake and doing his morning exercise routine. Soon he would be getting a routine checkup which could change his diet or exercise schedule in accordance with his results. He hoped that they would give him a bit more free time, as much as he liked the training, he had been wanting a pet for a while but since he did not have the free time to give one the love and affection they deserved he had yet to get one. 

Though, Satoshi did have a pet bird a few years ago...until he accidentally left the cage open.

“Bro! Wait up!” 

Takashi ran in place as he waited for Satoshi to catch up, he started his run once he saw Satoshi was by his side. 

“Why are you up already? Your schedule has you down for a bit more sleep,” Satoshi said between breaths. 

After competitions, their family had them run for the exercise before getting a massage followed by a muscle relieving bath.

“Too much extra calories from last night,” Takashi responded. 

He had loitered by the tables with all sorts of food to avoid dancing as much as he could. 

“Did you dance with anyone special?”

Takashi’s eyes went wide as the tip of his sneakers scraped against the ground and he struggled to keep himself from falling. 

“Woah, you okay there, Taka-bro?” Satoshi asked as he worriedly looked at his brother. 

In his years of watching his brother, he had never seen him react in such a...flustered way. 

“Yeah,” Takashi said as he glanced at Satoshi before continuing on his set pace, his brother followed closely. 

“So who was it? Is it someone I know? Maybe it’s the heir of the Fuji-”

Takashi slipped on a banana peel that had come out of nowhere. 

“What’s up with you today? You’re never this clumsy,” Satoshi said worriedly. 

“I was just distracted and didn’t look at the ground. And I didn’t, I didn’t dance with anyone special.”

Takashi patted the dust off of him before running off, leaving a confused Satoshi behind. 

“Ah, did he dance with too many girls? I know our family has a loyalty thing to our partners but he’s not even dating anyone...right?” Satoshi muttered to himself. 

“Taka-bro! Wait!” Satoshi shouted as he began to chase after his brother. 

Takashi took it as fuel to run faster. 

~~~

“I don’t get why I have to wear a kimono,” Haruhi said as she held up the clothing. 

“I think it’ll look good on you!” Honey said with a giggle as he showed off his kimono. 

“I have no objections, though if you want to wear the same waiter outfit as the rest of us are, you’ll have to pay the rental fee for both,” Kyoya said with a smile. 

“Don’t be like that Kyoya! Don’t embarrass Haruhi, she probably knows how to put one on from commoners television and maybe she just wants to match with her Daddy instead of her Uncles,” Tamaki said as he slung an arm over Haruhi’s shoulders. 

Haruhi felt her face heat up in a flicker of anger as she pinched his hand and pushed his arm off of her. Haruhi crossed her arms as Tamaki dramatically released waves of tears.

“Senpai, I own and have worn kimonos thank you very much and no one is related to me in the club!” Haruhi bit out. 

“Mommy! Haruhi’s mad at me!” Tamaki cried as he grabbed a handkerchief out of his pocket and bit it as he cried.

They all ignored his antics.

“I have to say,” Kauro started. 

“I didn’t think commoners could afford to buy one,” Hikaru said. 

Haruhi bit her cheek. 

“I’ve seen them wear them to the cute little festivals with the games and fireworks!” Honey chipped in.

“Yeah, but who was senpai referring to when he said ‘uncles’?”

“I believe he’s referring to Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai since they’re the only others wearing kimono’s today,” Kyoya said. 

“Mori-senpai?” Haruhi asked in surprise. 

Come to think of it, he had been the only one she had not seen since she had arrived at the club a few minutes ago. 

“Yeah?” 

Haruhi turned around and saw Takashi in his kimono with a red blanket folded neatly over his forearm, he looked good in his kimono. 

“Do you...need help setting up the blanket?” Haruhi said rather lamely.

“Sure,” Takashi said and Haruhi began to walk over but was outrun by the twins and Tamaki.

“I’ll help you senpai!” The twins shouted. 

“I see through your plot to get closer to my daughter! I won’t allow it!” Tamaki shouted as he grabbed one end of the blanket. 

Haruhi watched in disbelief as they hounded Takashi. 

“They have that covered, now go get changed. You’ll be hosting with Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai,” Kyoya said as he handed her the outfit. 

“I didn’t get any requests?” Haruhi asked in disbelief. 

She had been getting a steady handful of customers who requested her daily. 

“No, it seems your regulars are still a bit heartbroken from your actions last night. You’ll be joining our senpai’s in their traditional style for the sakura viewing with their clients. Anything they need, you’ll tend to.”

‘In other words, he’s indirectly demoting me to the position of dog for today,’ Haruhi thought. 

“Alright,” Haruhi grumbled as she headed to the dressing rooms. 

Haruhi had plenty of experience putting on kimono’s but she had never put on a male style one. She recalled how her senpais wore theirs and realized they were wearing them in two different styles. Did it matter which one she chose?

Haruhi decided to not overthink it and soon she was stepping out of the dressing room.

“Haru-chan looks like Takashi! Doesn’t she?” Honey asked as he ran up and handed her Usa-chan. 

Haruhi felt her face get hot as she hugged the bunny close, aware of the eyes on her.

“There aren’t that many ways to style a kimono, senpai,” Haruhi said as Takashi walked up to her. 

She steeled herself as he brought his hand close to her, he gently took a loose red string out of her hair. 

“You look nice in it,” Takashi said before handing her the red string and walking away to continue setting up. 

“No! No! They look like mother and father with Honey-senpai as their kid! I won’t stand for it!” Tamaki cried out.

“Then sit, we have plenty of chairs out,” Hikaru said with a laugh. 

“Yeah, chairs you didn’t help set up,” Kaoru bit out. 

“I was busy setting up the arrangements at the tables,” Tamaki defended.

Haruhi blocked out their bickering as she wrapped her fingers around the red string, she wondered how she missed it when she looked at herself in the mirror. She silently slipped the string into one of the crevices in the kimono before heading off to help with any last-minute jobs.

Soon enough, they were all getting in position. 

“Haru-chan, stand next to me!” Honey said as he tugged on her sleeve. 

She smiled slightly as she stood next to her, the twins stood on her other side. She wondered what her day would be like simply helping her biggest height difference senpai’s. 

“Welcome, ladies.” 

“Follow us,” Mori said to Haruhi once the girls filed in and they separated. 

She looked a little lost. 

“Do I have to do anything in particular? Pour tea? Replace desserts?” Haruhi questioned, Honey had already gone to the girls and was showing off his outfit. 

“Just stay with us, and probably a few dessert trips,” Takashi said. 

Haruhi smiled as she nodded. 

“Hello! Ah, is Haruhi going to be joining us today as well?” One of the girls asked as Haruhi sat down across from the boys. 

She knew the girls would want the best view they could get of the two hosts they requested. 

“For today we’re a trio,” Haruhi said with an eye-smile. 

“We all match, don’t you think it’s cute?” Honey asked as he flashed a bright smile. 

“Very!” The girls exclaimed. 

Haruhi watched as Honey did most of the hosting, he even began to mix tea for the ladies. Haruhi looked up at Mori, he did not have much of an expression on his face. She could never tell what was going on in his head mind or if he even liked hosting. 

Takashi’s body stiffened as he felt the piercing gaze of someone across from him, his eyes trailed away from Mitsukuni, and his eyes locked with Haruhi’s. Her eyes went wide as she quickly looked away, her head staying in the same position but her eyes were downcast. 

He could never tell what she thought about when it came to him. He could tell she got annoyed by the other members, especially when they started talking about commoners. However, when it came to him, he never really got a reaction out of her. 

There seemed to be a mutual and silent boundary that they never crossed. 

The sound of grinding filled his ears and he looked down. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he stopped paying attention to the herbs his cousin was mixing. 

“Mitsukuni,” He leaned in closer, “You overdid it.” 

Haruhi’s eyes were wide, ‘He told him!’ 

She had been wondering if she should say something about it but her senpai took care of that. The girls started comforting Honey when he got sad over it and Takashi silently gave them desserts. Haruhi turned around and sighed. 

If only she had not broken that damn vase. 

“Could you get us some more? Our next customers will be arriving shortly.” 

Haruhi turned to see Takashi handing her a slip with the type and amount of desserts to get. She skimmed it over and suspected that the ten slices of strawberry cake were for Honey. 

“Of course,” Haruhi said as she got up and slipped on her shoes. 

As she walked away, Mitsukuni turned to Takashi and smirked. 

“Say, how do you think the girls would react if I spilled the beans about you two dancing by yourselves?” He asked with an innocent smile that was anything but. 

“That’s invading her privacy.” 

“So what you’re saying is,” Mitsukuni stood up and wrapped his arms around Takashi’s neck as he let out a giggle, Takashi narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. “If it is okay with Haruhi, you wouldn’t mind me telling everyone?” He whispered. 

“Hello! Sit down and join us for some cakes!” Honey said in his usual loud and bubbly voice as he let go of Takashi and returned to his seat. 

Honey entertained the guest and Haruhi returned with the desserts. 

As he watched her pass out the desserts, Mitsukuni’s words ran through his mind like a broken record. 

Would he mind?

~~~

“Physical...exams?” 

The room fell silent as they all stared at the female host. How had they all collectively forgotten that they were being held in two days? Hell, Takashi had even had his physical sent so that he could be excused from it. 

“That’s right, I forgot all about it,” Kyoya said as he put his clipboard down.

Takashi hated when the girls from his grade - and sometimes some of his regulars who were in a grade below would worm their way into the room - would watch his every movement. He would try to change behind a curtain but he could still feel several of them peeking in and looking at him.

He stared at Haruhi, she would have to go through that too. 

“Then that means...there’s no doubt, they’re gonna know I’m really a girl.” 

Takashi felt his face grow pale at the thought of those intrusive girls finding out that Haruhi is also a girl. He could see the bullying and target already forming. 

“Let’s table this discussion for now. We have to clear this all up, you can choose to change back into your uniform or change after we are done cleaning up,” Kyoya said as he pushed up his glasses. 

Haruhi nodded as she walked away to change back into her school uniform, the kimono was getting rather uncomfortable. Plus, if she were to have the slightest thread out of place, she would be charged. 

Everyone split up as each of them went to pick up a different section. 

“You think Haru-chan will be exposed as a girl?” Honey asked as he folded the blanket they sat on as Takashi took down some panels from the paper wall. 

“Kyoya will figure something out,” Takashi muttered.

“If she does, you could totally date her you know?” 

Takashi snapped his head in his cousin’s direction, Honey had a slight smirk on that innocent-looking face. 

“Mitsukuni,” Takashi bit out in a warning tone. 

Honey raised his eyebrow, Takashi rarely ever raised his voice at him. 

“Oh you take things too literally,” Honey said in his cute voice he tended to use around everyone. “Besides, you would be able to be around her and protect her if you were together.” 

“She doesn’t need to be protected. She especially doesn’t need a man or woman or other to defend her, she can do it herself.” 

“Oh! You’re a lot more talkative when it comes to her,” Honey said pressing the matter more.

Takashi clenched his jaw as his eyes bore into Honey’s there was a slight challenge in his eyes.

Takashi hated when his cousin acted that way, it was something only he had fully seen. Of course, Yasuchika, Mitsukuni’s younger brother, had seen his brother get serious when it came to fighting. 

They all had. 

However, Mitsukuni had that darker part of him that he liked to toy with just outside of people’s range only getting close enough before dropping it and making the person think that he or she had seen wrong. 

Takashi grunted and walked away with the panels leaving MItsukuni to figure out if he wanted to tag along and act his usual self or if he still wanted to be the darker part of himself. 

“Mori-senpai, where’s Honey-senpai?” One of the twins asked. 

“Getting the blanket,” Takashi responded before walking alone. 

Takashi went to a corner away from the others, to his surprise he saw Kyoya. He hardly spoke but he spoke the least to him. There was no particular reason, they just never had much to say to one another. 

“Hello, senpai.”

“Mm.”

They worked in silence collecting the saucers and teacups. Takashi was in the middle of gathering the table’s clothes to be taken to be washed when Kyoya spoke. 

“Out of curiosity, do you think we would get a bigger group of customers if Haruhi is revealed since you do know what she looked like before she cut her hair. We might lose some of her customers but think of the possibilities.”

“Whatever you’re suggesting, stop. Neither of us has any say in what Haruhi chooses to do with herself or her life. I will support whatever she chooses to do. I’ll only speak up if she’s in possible danger.” 

Takashi walked away. 

What was up with them today?

~~~

Takashi had a rough time sleeping, he kept on thinking about what Kyoya and Mitsukuni had mentioned earlier that day. He had watched the clock turn that day into yesterday. He even slept through his exercise routine time once he had managed to fall asleep.

Needless to say, he was even quieter as he tried to keep himself from saying something reckless. 

“This anime is obviously a romantic school comedy. Haruhi and I are the main characters so that means we are love interests,” Tamaki stated. 

“Yeah, then what are we?” The twins asked.

“You boys are the homosexual cast!” 

Tamaki drew an imaginary line between him and the rest of the boys. Takashi was tired and wanted to go home and forget his troubling conversations today. 

“Hey, listen, boss,” Karou said. 

“I don’t think you get it,” Hikaru continued. 

“If word gets out that Haru-chan is really a girl, then she won’t be in the Host Club anymore. But if Haru-chan started wearing girls’ clothes, I bet she’d be even cuter than she is now!” Honey pitched in. 

“She dressed like a regular girl when she was in middle school, right?” Karou asked Kyoya. “She must have been pretty popular with all the boys.”

They all turned to look at Kyoya, Takashi could tell what answer was coming. 

“Yeah. According to my investigative report, someone would declare their undying love to her at least once a month,” Kyoya said. 

It made perfect sense to Takashi why Kyoya had brought up that topic earlier. He did not think that Kyoya was a bad person at first, he actually admired how detail-oriented and analytical he was. Now? Now, Takashi had lost a bit of respect for the younger for wanting to exploit something he had no right to even consider. 

“Oh, I see. So the boss won’t even be able to get close to her,” Hikaru pointed out. 

“But we’d be able to because we’re in class with her all day long,” Karou egged on. 

“No way!” Tamaki exclaimed. 

The door swung open and Haruhi peeked in. 

“Hey guys, I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“Don’t you worry, Haruhi!” Tamaki shouted as he grabbed her shoulders. “We’re determined to keep your secret. No one will find out that you’re actually a girl during physical exams tomorrow. So please, promise you’ll stay our beloved secret princess!”  
“Sure,” Haruhi said, not exactly aware of what was going on. 

“You know what, I think both of us would be a little peeved if we had to watch all the guys flirt with her,” Karou said. 

“Then that settles it,” Hikaru agreed. 

Haruhi watched in confusion as the boys rushed around and got Tamaki a whiteboard where he wrote the “proceeders” of the “plan” meant to keep the others from finding out she was not a guy. Still, if she was not in the club she could get more studying in and she would not have to rush to make dinner. 

“Listen up, squad members. At tomorrow’s physical exams, position yourself in Formation A, and then wait for your orders,” Tamaki ordered. 

Haruhi wondered why the boys were trying so hard to keep her identity as a girl secret, not that she cared about what the others thought of her.

“Yes, sir!” The boys except for Takashi and Kyoya shouted.

Takashi was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do, it was harder thinking with his body ready to shut down. 

“I got it!” Haruhi exclaimed as it finally hit her why the boys were trying so hard. “You guys are worried cause if they find out I’m a girl, I can’t be a host and therefore can’t repay my debt.” Haruhi turned around and started muttering to herself. “My balance is 5,333,332 yen,” Haruhi turned to her side,” I guess I’ll have to come up with another way to pay you back. 

Haruhi laughed as the twins and Tamaki talked amongst one another discussing how Haruhi was unaffected by the news. 

“Are you saying that you hate being a host? That you hate this club?” Tamaki accused as he pointed his finger at Haruhi. 

“Well, to be honest, I’d have to say yes,” Haruhi confessed. Tamaki gasped and fell into a hole of sadness I the corner of the room, “I mean, you guys aren’t bad but if it comes out I’m a girl there’s nothing I can do, you know?” 

Haruhi loved twisting their words against them after all, they saw her as nothing more than a commoner with no influence. She wanted to keep it that way until she became a lawyer. 

“She doesn’t seem to care one way or the other,” Karou said. 

“Well before we do anything else, we have to find a way to motivate her,” Hikaru said. 

Motivate Haruhi? 

Takasi brought his hand up to his chin as he thought when the thought hit him like a ray of lightning. 

“Fancy tuna.” 

Haruhi gasped as she envisioned the delicacy on one of the ballroom tables. She had been unable to reach it and when she went after the party had ended, there was nothing left except for a grain of rice. 

The others gasped in realization as well. 

“Oh that’s right, you didn’t get the chance to eat any during the last party, did you?” Tamaki questioned with a sly look. 

“Did you hear that? She’s never eaten fancy tuna before, isn’t that awful?” Karou egged on.

“Wow! Talk about a difficult childhood,” Hikaru said back to his twin as they both stared at Haruhi, egging her on. 

Mitsukuni held out Usa-chan and looked at it sympathetically, “If only Haru-chan could stay in the host club, she’d have the chance to eat all kinds of yummy things whenever she wants.” 

“What are you talking about? Don’t be silly! Just cause I’m poor and I’ve never had it doesn’t mean that I’m so much of a glutton I’d go on fooling everyone about my gender just to try some fancy tuna,” Haruhi nervously laughed as she waved her hand dismissively. “...Am I really gonna get to try it?” 

Everyone cheered as Takashi smiled, the slightest blush rested on his cheeks. She looked cute with her wide eyes thinking about eating. 

“Alright then, Haruhi you can go home! We’ll take care of all the details, just show up tomorrow and act normal!” Tamaki said as he grabbed her bag and practically guided her out of the club room. 

“Huh? Shouldn’t I be here? After all, this plan is about me,” Haruhi said as she dug her heels in the ground but was still pushed to the entrance. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Hikaru said as he wiped the dust off of her shoulders.

“Yeah, you’re in good hands,” Karou said with a smile as he placed a hand on the width of her back and pushed her out of the doors. 

Haruhi stumbled and turned around to them smiling and waving. 

“Take care, Haru-chan!” Honey shouted as the twins slammed the doors closed and locked them. 

Takashi and Kyoya looked from afar.

“I assume we have to stay and listen to this dumb plan?” Kyoya asked as the two of them walked to their conference table. 

It was the table that Kyoya typically had to himself to calculate club expenses and pull things together. 

“Hey! It’s not dumb! It’s going to save Haruhi!” Tamaki said as he stuck his face up. 

“Well then, what’s the plan, boss?” The twins asked. 

“One of us will have to stand in for Haruhi, of course,” Tamaki said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“But none of us are the same height as Haru-chan,” Honey said as he played with Usa-chans ears. 

“Well actually,” Karou stared, a glint in his eyes as he shared eye contact with his twin who grinned. “I think the Boss would be a perfect stunt double,” 

Takashi frowned, the twins were up to no good again. 

“Yeah, all you need is the wig. Once we get one, you’ll look exactly like her,” Hikaru said with a small smile. 

“Yeah, there’s no way they’d be able to tell the difference,” Karou innocently said with the same mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Ah! It is only natural that a father and daughter look alike. Alright, Hikaru, Karou, go get me a wig. Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai sneak in with the doctors and let me in,” Tamaki said. 

“That does make sense, you two have already sent in your physicals, correct?” Kyoya asked and they both nodded. 

“Then, we’ll need to have a moment when everyone is distracted that Haruhi gets exchanged for Tamaki. I suggest the twins make a brotherly love scene and while everyone is distracted, our senpais push Haruhi into a curtained area where Tamaki stands ready to switch,” Kyoya pulled the plan together easily. 

“Alright! Kyoya give them some doctor coats and we can all go now,” Tamaki said.

Kyoya nodded as he got up, pushing up his glasses. 

“Follow me, senpais”

Takashi was weary about the plan, it sounded like it would fail and embarrass Haruhi. However, Haruhi had trusted them to figure something out so he had to respect her decision and go with the plan. 

That was how Takashi ended up being stared at by the first-year girls as he and Honey stood in their coats and glasses. 

“You’re so obvious,” Haruhi said with a slightly pale face. 

“I’ve got those two for backup just in case something happens,” Kyoya said as he appeared out of nowhere. 

Takashi figured he had snuck in with the hoard of first years, he must have had Tamaki come with him too. He watched the familiar blob of blonde hair try to sneakily get to a curtained area where he would wait. 

“But why are they in doctor disguises?” Haruhi questioned. 

“They’re just helping to set the mood. Disguises make our operation feel like a real espionage mission,” Kyoya said. 

“Huh?”

The four of them watched as a doctor buttered up a student. Haruhi continued walking and Takashi and Honey followed behind. They watched as the twins performed their little stunt, providing a distraction. 

Kyoya looked at them and gestured at which area Tamaki was hiding in before walking off. 

“Come on, Haru-chan! This way!” Honey whisper-yelled as they shoved her into the room. 

Haruhi was surprised that by every part of the plan, she thought the twins were just doing that since they always did it to get attention. 

“Don’t ya think we should have told Haruhi the plan? I feel bad for shoving her,” Honey said as he tugged on the Takashi’s robe. 

“I feel bad too,” Takashi admitted. 

“But the plan is working, don’t you think?” 

“Mm.”

Takashi was unsure of how the girls would react. Obviously, Tamaki looked nothing like Haruhi even with the wig on but perhaps the girls would be too distracted by Tamaki’s body. 

“Has Tamaki made a fool of himself yet?”

Takashi and Mitsukuni turned to look at Kyoya. 

“What do you mean?” Mitsukuni asked. 

“Well, these doctors are from my family's hospitals. I’ve just set up a private room for Haruhi, I honestly could have told all of you earlier but I just want to see Tamaki make a fool of himself,” Kyoya calmly said. 

“Wow, you actually are fun,” Karou, said as he slung an arm around his twins' shoulders. 

The girls were all focused on Haruhi who was supposed to come out so the twins were free to leave their area. 

“Mr. Fujioka, are you ready to be measured now?” A nurse asked. 

“Oh, he’s grabbing the curtain,” Hikaru whispered as the twins quickly walked closer to get a better view. 

“Yes. I’m Haruhi Fujioka.” 

The girls quickly spoke out in confusion wondering if he was playing a prank on them or possibly even cosplaying the other host. 

The twins burst out laughing as the other three hosts smiled. Takashi tried to stop it but the corners of his mouths betrayed him and went up. 

“I can’t believe he actually did it!” Karou shouted. 

“They recognized him! I told you they’d see through it!” Hikaru shouted back.

Tamaki’s face grew red as tears of embarrassment gathered, “You jerk!” 

Tamaki grabbed the Karou by his neck. 

“You said there was no way they’d be able to tell!” 

“It’s payback for calling us the ‘homosexual’ supporting cast!” Karou managed out between his choking and laughter. 

Tamaki let out a groan as he let go of the twin and cautiously peeked behind the curtain where Haruhi was looking down.

“I’m sorry. They figured it out,” Tamaki said gently. 

Haruhi snapped her neck back, a dark look in her eyes as she let out a growl of anger. Tamaki screamed as he let go of the curtain, covering him from her dark gaze. 

Haruhi let out a sigh once he was out of sight, ‘Of course they wouldn’t take this seriously. I should’ve asked what the plan was before trusting them. It’s just as I thought. Tamaki-senpai lives in his own carefree, little world.’

Kyoya walked up to her and gently touched her shoulder. 

“Haruhi, ready?” Kyoya asked as she looked up at him. “I went ahead and set up a separate room for you, a special boys’ clinic. And I have a doctor standing by sworn to secrecy.” 

The twins, Mitsukuni and Takashi walked to the curtain entrance wearing their school uniforms.

“It turns out the doctors here today are all on staff at one of Kyoya-senpai’s family hospitals,” Karou said. 

“Would’ve been nice if he had said something to us earlier,” Hikaru said as the two twins shrugged. 

“I had to get my revenge, too. I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m supporting cast, homosexual or otherwise.” 

“Go on, we’ll be your secret service agents! No one gets past us, hya!” Honey said as he threw out some karate chops. 

“Thanks, senpai. Though, I don’t think many of them will be scared of you,” Haruhi said as she let out a gentle laugh. 

Takashi bit back a smile as Honey just giggled. 

Haruhi managed to get through since Tamaki was taking up all the attention as he dramatically laid on the floor with tears rolling down his cheeks and muttering something about his daughter going through a rebellious stage. 

“And then, after that, you’ll be at the clinic,” Kyoya said as Takashi opened the door for her. 

“Thank you, senpai.” 

Haruhi followed Kyoya’s directions and soon enough she was knocking on the door of the room which was serving as a special boys clinic for her. 

“Come in,” A woman called out.

Haruhi pushed open the door to reveal a female doctor sitting at a table. 

“Hello, Mr. Fujioka,” The doctor welcomed. “I’ve been made aware of your situation. If you wouldn’t mind, please disrobe for me over there.”

Haruhi followed her point to an area that was covered with curtains. 

“Sure.” 

Meanwhile, in the first year physical exam room, the host club third and second-year students were heading towards the door. They had gone back to at least drag Tamaki out of there. 

“I’m telling the truth!” A girl shouted in distress. 

“Hm?” Takashi turned around to see a girl on her knees in tears as a nurse comforted her, there were other girls around her as well.

“One of the doctors grabbed me by my shoulder! He was trying to make a pass at me! I’ve never been so terrified!” The shouted. 

Takashi wondered how she got a doctor trying to get with her from a shoulder grab, he was positive that Kyoya’s family did extensive research on all of their doctors before hiring them so there were no perverts there. 

“I had a feeling this might happen,” Kyoya confessed.

“What do you mean?” Honey asked as they all looked at Kyoya. 

“A bit earlier today, I saw a strange man wearing a white lab coat but clearly not one of our hospital doctors and I thought he was a little odd.” 

“Shouldn’t you have said something sooner?” The twins scolded. 

“Oh well, it’s no big deal. I’m sure the security guard will catch him.”

“Tell me miss, did you happen to notice where the perverted doctor was headed?” A man asked. 

“Yes, sir, he ran off toward the special boys’ clinic!” 

Takashi felt his breathing stop.

Tamaki quickly got up from where he had been playing dead as they all turned towards the direction of the clinic, “Haruhi!”

Takashi ran, he carefully dodged students and curtains but it slowed him down slightly. 

Haruhi was in the middle of taking off her button-up when she heard the curtains moving. 

‘What the-?’

Haruhi turned to see a man looking out of the curtains, his back was to her. Perhaps he was lost and did not know she was there. 

“Excuse me..” 

The man turned around, his eyes were wide and he looked panicked. 

“No, it’s not what you think!” The man whisper-yelled as he covered her mouth. “Please just keep quiet!”

“Haruhi!” Tamaki shouted. “Tama-chan kick!” 

Tamaki kicked the man in the head sending him flying into the wall, he stood between him and Haruhi. 

“One, good looks that attract the public eye,” The twins said as they glared at the man. 

“Two, more wealth than you can imagine,” Kyoya said as he walked in. 

“Three, a chivalry that will never be able to overlook...” Takashi said. 

“...the hideous wickedness of this world,” Mitsukuni finished. 

Takashi placed his shirt over her, covering her back. “That’s what makes up the Ouran Host Club!” 

“We’re here, watch out!” They all shouted. 

The wan whimpered as he put up his hands in surrender, “Please don’t hurt me!” He bowed down to them, “Spare me my life!” 

Haruhi silently looked at the others, “We should probably go into the room with the doctor.” 

“Yes, it is rather cramped here,” Kyoya said. 

Haruhi had said it to get them to get out so she could get dressed again but they took her with them, making sure she was ahead of all of them. Once they go out, the man was on his knees as the man explained his life story about how he ended up there in search of his daughter who had left him with his wife. 

It turned out that he was at the wrong school and Kyoya was forced to help him find the doctor's daughter's real school at the begging of Tamaki. They all watched the doctor walk away and fix his relationship with his daughter. 

“I’m sorry about this you guys, but could you guys please leave?” Haruhi asked. 

They all looked at her in surprise, they had all forgotten about the physical exam. For a second, Takashi wondered if she was still mad at them for their original plan. 

“Haruhi, are you still angry with me? YOu’re not thinking of quitting the Host Club, are you?” Tamaki asked in distress. 

Haruhi’s sweet laughter rang out, “Don’t be stupid, senpai, I’ve just got to finish my physical exam. As a male student, of course.” 

Takashi smiled at her, in her own way, she was very loyal. 

“Ah, but let me explain, I’m not doing this ‘cause you’re bribing me with food, I’m doing it to pay back my debt.” 

“You’re so cute, Haruhi!” Tamaki shouted as he threw himself at her. 

“Ah!” 

“I can see right through you! I know that you’re just after that fancy tuna, but it’s so cute-” 

“Cut it out, senpai!” Haruhi shouted as she struggled against him, she felt his hand graze her hip. “Hey! Don’t touch me there!” Haruhi shouted. 

Takashi frowned as he grabbed Tamaki’s underarms and hoisted him into the air and away from Haruhi.

“Red card!” The twins shouted. 

“Looks like Tamaki-senpai...is the real pervert!” The twins said as they stared at their flailing leader.

‘Who cares? Would you guys just get out of here?” 

Takashi led them out of the room, carrying Tamaki out. It had been the most eventful physical exam day he had ever experienced, it even topped last year when Tamaki walked out in front of the girls in his boxers unaware that he was supposed to keep his pants on.

“Say, we do have to punish you, Boss,” The twins said. 

Takashi set Tamaki down.

“Of course, you did touch Haruhi weirdly,” Kyoya encouraged. 

“Mm.” 

“What should you do?” Mitsukuni asked aloud, the dark glint in his eyes. 

“You know,” Hikaru started. “You could dress up at Kyoya-senpai.” 

“Out of the question,” Kyoya interrupted. 

“Well, we could have him do the same as last year but paint an embarrassing birthmark on him,” Mitsukuni said. 

“Nice one,” Karou muttered. 

“A strong contender, let's do some more brainstorming,” Kyoya said as they walked down the hall.

Something told Takashi today would be even more interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be skipping a few episodes of the anime to get to the romance and love triangle sooner. Expect the waterpark next chapter!


	4. Vacations are for...

The kendo club was bustling with members practicing and dueling one another for the experience. Takashi and his cousin were in the corner, Mitsukuni typically did homework or went home on Saturdays when they had their half-classes.

Takashi suspected his visit had something to do with Kyoya walking up to him. 

Kyoya never came to the kendo club.

Takashi kept swinging the bamboo sword down as the two got closer.

“Takashi! Kyou-chan is inviting us to a water park!”

Takashi hummed, he had a suspicion that there was more to the invitation.

“It’s a new resort that my family has developed, it won’t be open to the public for a bit. What do you think?” Kyoya asked as Takashi swung down his kendo sword. 

Kyoya was definitely up to something, Takashi swung the sword again. What was he up to?

“We’ll go with everyone, right?” Honey asked as he watched from the sidelines. 

“Yeah, the twins and Tamaki have already agreed to go to the waterpark. Today is an early day for us to leave, why not relax a bit?” Kyoya asked. 

Takashi let out a sigh, between the crazy girl from France -who thankfully left back to France-, the twins fighting to get Haruhi to let them visit her home, to the little boy who ended up taking piano lessons from Tamaki. 

Takashi really needed a vacation, he had agreed to join a host club, not a therapy club. Lately, that was what the club was turning into and frankly, he had his own issues to take care of. Come to think of it, it was mainly Haruhi helping people.

She needed to focus on herself and stop worrying so much about others. If she let the ordeals their club president let go on, she could get distracted from her studies. She needed a vacation too and if it were just the twins, Tamaki, and Kyoya there she would hardly be relaxed. 

He would only intervene if they bothered her and she was annoyed.

“Sure,” Takashi said as he walked off the mats and joined the two. 

“When do we leave?” Honey asked. 

“In about ten minutes, we’ll be riding in one of my limos so you should call off your own,” Kyoya said. 

“Is it just going to be us guys or is Haruhi going to be joining us too?” Honey asked. 

“Oh, the twins are taking care of that.” 

Takashi raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he went to get dressed for their day off. He had been hoping to squeeze in some more practice, it was hard being part of the kendo club and host club with a lot of demands from the host club.

Though, he really only went after hosting hours if there was enough time. It was simply to participate in the high school competitions, nothing more. 

“Takashi! Kyou-chan says that he already got us swimming trunks!” Honey chimed as Takashi finished buttoning his shirt. 

“Are we supposed to change into them now?” 

He frowned slightly, he had just finished buttoning the damned shirt and he would have to unbutton it almost immediately? 

“No, we’ll change at the park.” 

“Good.” 

The cousins grabbed their school bags before following Kyoya to the limo. 

Once they got in, they were greeted by Tamaki wearing sunglasses and a flower necklace with a drink in his hands. 

“Hello! Glad you could make it, senpais,” Tamaki said. 

“Ooh, are there any sweets?” Honey asked and Tamaki pointed to a plater stacked with desserts. 

“Mitsukuni, you’re going to get sick when you swim,” Takashi muttered as he settled himself in an empty seat farther from Tamaki and the others. 

He stretched out his legs as the car started moving, “I’ll be fine~ hey! Where’s Haru-chan and the twins?”

Takashi shifted slightly in his seat.

“The twins will be bringing her out any time now,” Tamaki said casually. 

Takashi frowned, he had a feeling she was not made aware of this plan until today as had he. The glint in Tamaki’s eyes clued him in too. 

As they pulled up to the front of the school, Takashi heard a scream that sounded familiar. He turned his head and saw the twins holding Haruhi by the arms. 

“Good work, now take her with you,” Tamaki said as he brought his drink up for a sip and rolled the window back up. 

“W-” Takashi was cut off by Honey giggling and shoving a strawberry pastry into his mouth. 

“Good, huh, Takashi?” Honey asked with a glint in his eyes. 

“Mm.” 

Takashi pushed his cousin away as the door slid open and Haruhi was tossed into the moving car and the twins followed suit. 

“Hikaru! Karou! Don’t be so rough with my precious daughter!” 

“Sorry, Boss, she was lighter than we expected.”

“Are you okay?” Takashi asked Haruhi as he helped her get up as the others argued in the background. 

“Ah, yeah, thank you, Senpai.” 

Haruhi dusted herself off as she plopped down in the area closer to Takashi than the others. The twins and Tamaki were fighting while Kyoya sipped a drink from a wine glass and Honey giggled as he ate a strawberry cake. 

Haruhi sighed as she turned to ask Takashi where they were going. However, right as she did music started playing as a little disco ball lowered itself and bright lights started flashing. Haruhi and Takashi let out groans as they slumped in their seats, Takashi a bit more inconspicuous than Haruhi. 

It was going to be a long car ride. 

~~~ 

“Come on Haruhi!” The twins shouted as they shook her awake. 

Haruhi barely opened one eye before she was being dragged out of the car and into the park. 

Takashi had been the first one out since his legs were killing him. When he saw the twins dragging a half-awake Haruhi out, he realized his mistake. He was about to go over to make sure they did not harm her when Honey grabbed his jacket. 

“Come on! Let’s go get dressed and swim!” Honey cheered as he started dragging Takashi away.

“Wait,” Takashi said and turned his head but the classmates were already gone. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“...Nothing.” 

Takashi turned to go get changed and he finished, he noticed the only person missing was Tamaki. He frowned, something told him that he was with Haruhi even though she was getting changed as well. 

Takashi silently slipped out of the male changing room and made his way over to the one Haruhi was using. He was just going to check if Tamaki was there, nothing more. 

Takashi was behind the trees checking for Tamaki, he held Tamaki in a high light sometimes...However, whenever it came to Haruhi, his bar for Tamaki was rather low that he could trip over it and Tamaki would still manage to slip under it. 

However, as he was behind a palm tree, the door to the changing room swung open. His eyes widened as he saw her. 

She looked absolutely-

“Senpai?” 

Takashi quickly looked at Tamaki who was looking away from her with a red face. 

“Just hurry up and put it on.” 

He was holding out a yellow sweater for her, maybe the bar went up ever so slightly as Takashi quickly walked away. He did not want to think about what he had thought mere seconds before. 

“Takashi! I was looking for you!” Honey chirped as he threw himself at his cousin.

Takashi did not react as he tried to calm his nerves and rationalize his thinking. 

“Ta-ka-shi.”

Takashi looked down at his cousin who had drawn out his name. 

“What?” 

“What were you thinking about?” Honey asked as he climbed his cousin and sat on his shoulders as per usual. 

“Nothing.”

“Let’s go swimming!”

“Let’s wait for the others,” Takashi said as he walked towards the seating area Kyoya was heading towards. 

“I’m gonna go get a floaty!” His cousin shouted as he did a flipped off his shoulders and ran towards the second year to find where they were kept. 

Takashi sighed as he looked up, he was disappointed in himself. He knew he was a man and would have the occasional lingering gaze on a model - never more than two seconds - but it was the first time he had thought about…

He shook his head, he was lacking in his meditation and discipline. He would up his time meditating and cut back a bit on his workout time. 

Takashi looked up at the cry of a bird, he watched it fly over his head. He wondered what kind of bird it was, he loved animals. He wondered if it had a nest or if it was going to meet up with other birds. 

He started to follow it as he heard more birds chirping. 

However, as he got closer to one of the pools that separated the walking area from the vegetation part of the park, he felt someone looking at him. 

“Hm?”

He turned around to find Haruhi looking at him. 

She was wearing that yellow sweater. He wondered where the shorts came from. 

Probably a gift shop. 

Takashi watched as she turned to talk to the twins, he decided to walk back to them. As he got closer he overheard Haruhi’s conversation with the twins. 

“I can swim just as good as the next guy but this isn't my idea of fun. I'm not that big on water parks we're just going to spend all day goofing off. Honestly, I'd rather be at home. I don't understand what's so great about this place anyway I mean all you really need to play in the water is a plastic pool.”

“A plastic pool? What’s that?” The twins asked as they looked at one another in confusion. 

Takashi frowned, the name was self-explanatory. 

“Let’s see, they’re about this big, round, and to use it you have to pump it full of air,” Haruhi said as she made a circular motion with her hand. 

Ah, he had owned one before and he was pretty sure his family still had it stored away. He had bought one when he was younger when he found an injured baby duck. It had outgrown their birdbath so he got a temporary pool for it before it could be returned to the pond. 

Of course, he had used it over the years for other such rescues. 

“You dunce,” Hikaru said. 

“That’s an inflatable boat, dummy.” 

“There's no way something that small could be used as a pool.” 

“Yeah,” Karou supported his brother. 

Takashi frowned, he tried his best to not judge others with how they were raised but the ignorance that ran through the students at their school was astonishing. Their school may have been meant for the best and brightest rich students to attend but it felt like they were idiots when it came to the real world and the division between their world and the rest of their fellow citizens. 

“Guys, it's a small pool! Haven't you ever seen little kids playing in one?” Haruhi seemed to be in disbelief. 

Takashi sighed, he should probably-

Tamaki suddenly dragged the twins away and started whispering - too loudly - about how Haruhi could not help that she was an ignorant commoner.

Takashi clenched his fist, he was awfully sick of those words. He took one step towards Tamaki when Honey grabbed his wrist and pulled him away. 

“Don’t.”

“They can’t keep talking about her like that. Especially not in front of her,” Takashi hissed out. 

“Haruhi can handle it herself. She’s capable and you won’t do anything but harm your reputation and the way she sees you. Besides, it would stick with them more if it’s Haruhi getting angry at them instead of you attacking Tamaki. Besides, it could get you kicked out of school and potentially get banned from one of the Ootori businesses. You can’t risk your ties.”

Takashi huffed, he closed his eyes and breathed in and then out. His family had been elated when he revealed he was part of a club with an Ootori boy and the heir to the Suo family. They were delighted when they found out he was also a club member with the Hitachiin twins, even though they would not inherit their family’s business. Sure they were friends to an extent but in their world, the bonds built during their school years would help their families in the long run.

Also, how would Haruhi react if he suddenly started a fight? She would think he was no better than the others if not worse. All respect she had for him would leave.

He sighed as he let himself relax, his cousin was right. 

“Takashi!” 

Takashi opened his eyes to see his cousin jumping into the pool, a small smile appeared on his lips as he realized what he was doing. 

“Come on it! It’s great exercise,” Honey said and Takashi shrugged. 

It was supposed to help relax him. 

He started swimming and Honey offered to get on his back for the added weight. 

“Hold on,” Takashi said as he began to swim against the current. 

“Hey, look at me, everyone! See? Even as hard as we’re swimming, we never move forward from the same place!” Honey advertised. 

As Takashi swam, Honey observed the others. Kyoya was disinterested so he hardly looked up and then the twins looked away before walking away and Tamaki was distracted. 

He saw Haruhi staring at them with a dazed out look on her face. 

“Interesting,” Honey whispered to himself, the words going unnoticed by Takashi. 

Haruhi watched the twins and Tamaki run off with water guns, she sighed. 

‘I just wanted to do laundry today, I wonder what mom would have said if she was still alive.’ 

Haruhi walked towards the lounge area where Kyoya was writing in his notebook, earlier Kyoya had mentioned that refreshments were free and to just ask. 

“Kyoya-senpai, where can I get something to drink?” Haruhi asked. 

Kyoya kept scribbling away, “It is quite hot, isn’t it? Anything in particular you want? We have all sorts of refreshments available to help provide the sense of a tropical retreat.” 

“Uh, coconut juice?” 

“Ice or no ice? In a glass or the coconut?” 

“Um, just in a glass with some ice.”

Kyoya nodded and a few seconds later a guy dressed in a suit came out with a silver platter resting against his palm. 

“One glass of coconut water for the master,” The man said as he bowed and extended his arm out to Haruhi. 

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Haruhi hesitantly grabbed the glass and straw. 

‘Where did he come from?’ Haruhi wondered as she grabbed the straw as well. 

“Enjoy.” 

Haruhi watched the man walk away before glancing at Kyoya, when had he placed the order? 

“You’re probably wondering when I placed the order. I just sent one of my servants a quick text message, they’re here to serve us food and drinks since we don’t officially open and therefore have no workers at the park at the moment.”

Haruhi shivered slightly as she nodded, it was like that guy was in her thoughts sometimes. 

She walked back towards the pool where there were tables with umbrellas. It was closer to where Mori and Honey were in the water, the others were still having their water gun fight. 

Haruhi sat down and let herself relax for the first time on the trip. She closed her eyes and drank the sweet drink.

“Takashi, I’m fine. Go out there and sit with Haruhi or something,” Honey said as Takashi started to lose his battle against the current. 

Takashi had caught a glance of Haruhi sitting and drinking at a nearby table. He supposed it would be okay for him to take a break.

Honey got off and started swimming against the current, a little pleased look on his face. Takashi wondered what that was about as he got out of the water and headed over to where Haruhi was. 

Haruhi opened her eyes as she felt the presence of someone, she saw Takashi standing in front of her trying to get water out of his ear. She supposed he should be tired now after swimming against a current that strong, she doubted that his family was known for being great swimmers. 

Then again, she looked over at where he had been swimming only to see Honey swimming against the current, maybe they were swimming rivals or something like that and that was why those two got along so well.

“Taking a break?” Haruhi asked as she looked up at Takashi who was stretching his neck. “Want something to drink?” 

She handed him the drink she had just been drinking. 

“Yeah.”

He took the drink and brought the straw to his lips, he wondered what drink it was. 

Ah, coconut. 

Kyoya stopped walking as he looked at the two, he had come over to ask Mori what he wanted to drink since he had his servants at the ready. He had not been expecting Haruhi to be so brave and offer the chivalrous her drink and share an indirect kiss. 

He looked away towards Tamaki who was still playing with the twins, perhaps Tamaki was worried about the wrong guys going after Haruhi. He knew the twins messed around with the idea of dating Haruhi to mess with Tamaki but Mori had a rather strict list of rules he followed with girls. 

Perhaps he had simply witnessed a momentary lapse of judgment that he had never seen from that senpai in his years of knowing him.

Kyoya and Haruhi turned their heads when they heard the dropping of the glass with ice. Kyoya noted that the glass had not broken, so he made a mental note to add it to the notes he had been collecting around the park. 

Haruhi noticed that there was still some coconut juice in it and the straw had fallen away from the glass so he had dropped it while he had been drinking it. She looked up to see Takashi staring at Honey and he looked tense. 

Perhaps the tense part was from Tamaki smacking into one of the totem poles. Then she followed his gaze and watched as a huge wave crashed into Honey sending him underwater. 

“Honey-senpai!” Haruhi shouted as she stood up and ran next to Takashi. 

“Mitsukuni!” 

Haruhi ran but Takashi was quicker, and suddenly, he slipped and fell. 

She stopped, it was the first time she had seen him be clumsy and he got hurt from it. 

“Mori-senpai…” 

As he got up, Takashi heard Tamaki proclaiming about going after his cousin. 

“That pool looks like the quickest way! Charge!” Tamaki shouted as he led them towards one area. 

Takashi agreed that was the closest way to Honey. 

“Oh, that way is…” Kyoya’s voice trailed off as they all came face-to-face with alligators. 

"There are alligators swimming there!” The twins shouted. 

Haruhi’s heart was racing, she was not used to running so quickly. Meanwhile, Takashi was running close by, if Haruhi were to lose her pace or get attacked he would help her. 

The group gathered near Takashi standing behind Haruhi. 

“Okay! We can’t use that pool, let’s take this route!” Tamaki shouted as he pointed in another direction. 

The alligators let out a roar, they were coming from all directions. 

“They’re here too!” The twins shouted. 

“And here!” Haruhi ran past Takashi who stood his ground walking back but never breaking eye contact. “What’s with all the alligators?”

“Beats me,” Tamaki muttered.

“Those pools are the tropical animal area. I guess it is dangerous to let the alligators run loose. Although, it’s the current pool’s switch location that’s the problem here,” Kyoya muttered as he wrote in his notebook. “I’ll have to speak to the designers.” He closed the notebook and offered a smile to the others, “I have to thank you. I’ve gotten some good data here.”

“You what?!” Everyone but Takashi shouted. 

He was right about Kyoya being up to something. 

“Follow me,” Kyoya said as he led them away from the alligators who lost interest in them as the servants came out from their area and entertained their attention with food. “This is Tropical Aqua Garden’s area map. This is our present location. To get to this point, where I predict Honey-senpai got carried away, we will need to go through the jungle area in the southern block. That’s a range of about 800 meters.” Kyoya had been pointing to the route they would have to take. 

Takashi quickly memorized the area around where they would be headed. 

“There seems to be a lot of undetermined areas in this jungle along our way,” Haruhi pointed out. 

“Those are zones that are still under development,” Kyoya responded.

“There could be things in here even more dangerous…” Hikaru started. 

“Than alligators,” Karou finished. 

That would put a few holes in Takashi’s other routes if it turned out that Mitsukuni was not where Kyoya was leading them. Oh well.

“All right, this is a survival mission! We have to safely penetrate the jungle area, and rescue Honey-senpai!” Tamaki shouted. 

“Yeah!” The twins shouted. 

Tamaki led them into the jungle and Takashi found himself walking next to Haruhi, only about a step away from being directly next to her. 

“This has all but become a real jungle in here,” Tamaki pointed out as they walked. 

“I’ve been hearing lots of strange animal calls,” Haruhi muttered. 

“These animal voices…” Hikaru said. 

“...couldn’t be the real thing, right?” Karou asked.

“I’m not too sure. In all the work we do, we tend to be authenticity oriented.”

Takashi looked ahead, the calls sounded real enough. It reminded him of the time his family and the Haninozukas went on a vacation in a tropical forest where he, Mitsukuni, Yasuchika, and Satoshi had to survive a week in the wild without help from their parents. He had to fight a leopard at one point while the others hunted the prey they had apparently shared with the leopard. 

Mitsukuni and Yasuchika fought at one point and knocked down their shelter for the night. It had been quite a sightseeing Satoshi scold the both of them. 

Haruhi looked up at him, ‘As usual, Mori-senpai is poker-faced and I can’t tell what he’s thinking.’ She looked out straight ahead. ‘But though he may look calm, it’s times like these-’

Suddenly, she heard a deep ‘huh!’ and the sound of a body hitting the ground. 

She turned to see him lying on the ground with a banana covering the upper half of his face. 

“Mori-senpai is-”

“Acting about as clumsy as you, boss!” Karou shouted in worry.

“What?!” 

Haruhi looked down at Takashi as he sat up, ‘Sure enough, he’s pretty concerned.’

Takashi looked up, he should have noticed sooner. The smell of rain had been heavy and he had failed to realize. It would fall any second. 

They all barely made it into a nearby covered seating area. Takashi stayed near the entrance, leaning against the railing and watching the rainfall. He wondered if Honey had gotten out of the water before it started to rain.

“Mori-senpai is awfully close to Honey-senpai, isn’t he? Are they childhood friends, or something?”

Takashi heard Haruhi ask, the others were quick to explain their family dynamic to her. They conveniently left out the part about their family's ties to the martial arts, he figured she would find out at some point. Something told him that she would find out on this trip. 

Haruhi looked at Takashi who had not said anything about his family connection to Honey. She silently walked closer to him.

‘I’m not sure I understand all this about his blood getting going, but he does think an awful lot of Honey-senpai, huh?’ 

Haruhi gently grabbed his arm, Takashi looked back at her, “Mori-senpai, it’ll be all right. Honey-senpai is safe. He’s tougher than you might think, and if he gets hungry, there are a lot of bananas on the trees.” 

Takashi ruffled her hair, he never realized how soft it had been. Then again, he had never touched her hair, if he was not careful it might turn into a habit. He smiled down at her, he found it amusing yet ironic that she said that. 

“Yeah.” 

Takashi turned back to his position and waited for the rain to stop, he sniffed the air, it would end rather soon. 

Haruhi was surprised when the rain stopped and immediately Takashi was going in the wrong direction. Was he affected by Honey getting swept away?

“Mori-senpai, it’s not that way,” Haruhi called out. “Honey-senpai is in the other direction!” 

“No, he’s this way,” Takashi responded. 

Every fiber of his being was telling him his cousin was in that direction. 

“Just a minute! It’s too dangerous to go alone!” Haruhi shouted as he walked deeper into the jungle area. “I’ll come with you!” 

Haruhi chased after him but did not make it very fast or close as every other step there were new obstacles in her way. Takashi quickly looked back when she was about to fall into a little lake.

“Haruhi…” Takashi hoped she would be okay with what he was about to do. 

Haruhi’s heart skipped a beat as Takashi lifted her with one arm and held her close to his bare chest. 

‘That’s the first time he’s ever called me by my name,’ Haruhi thought as she looked up with him with a blush resting on her cheeks. 

Takashi noticed her flustered look, “Is this...okay?” 

“Yeah, um, senpai?”

Takashi started walking, “Hm?”

“You know, I’m okay with you calling me by my first name, right?” Haruhi casually asked. 

It was her turn to see Takashi get flustered, a light blush resting on his cheeks. He realized that he had called her by her first name without clearing it past her. 

“Are you sure?” Takashi looked down at her, her eyes looked expectant. “Haruhi?” 

“Yup!” 

Takashi nodded as he kept walking. 

“Also, did you know that Honey-senpai isn’t exactly as innocent as he looks? Kyoya-senpai told us about how he sneakily slipped out a comment calling himself cute in the floaty he wore!” 

Takashi chuckled, that was not even half of it. 

“Sounds like him.” 

Haruhi smiled as they fell into a comfortable silence, she had never realized it but being out there alone with Takashi made her rather relaxed. 

‘I guess I’ve never realized how relaxing his silence is.’ 

Tamaki was trying his best to think of Haruhi as Mitsukuni. Per his family rules, he was not allowed to be this close to a girl unless he was in a romantic relationship with her, she was an opponent in a fight, he was greeting a close relative, or if he was saving her from danger. 

Technically he was saving her from snakes and other little critters that were freaking her out earlier. Yeah, totally. 

As they walked, Takashi heard the sound of footsteps getting closer.

‘It’s too fast, heavy, and too many to be the other members,’ Takashi came to a stop, his eyes narrowing as he looked up. ‘So they’re coming from the sky as well.’

Haruhi’s eyes widened as they were both circled by men dressed in all black combat uniforms. 

“Target confirmed!” One of them shouted. 

Takashi looked at one, ‘That emblem belongs to the Ootori family. Kyoya’s private family police force. It seems Haruhi will learn what my family does on this trip, after all, I won’t act unless one of them comes after her.’ 

“The target has been captured by a suspicious man,” Another member said. 

“Now taking the subject into custody.”

Haruhi held onto Takashi, ‘How are we supposed to get out of this? Maybe Mori-senpai can run really fast…’

“You there! Let the boy go, or we will resort to using force!” 

Takashi did not let his hold falter, ‘One, two, three, four…” His eyes shifted to the side where two more men stood. ‘Five, six…’

“Oh, hold on!” Haruhi shouted as the men pulled out weapons aimed at them. 

One of the officers grabbed her arm that had been holding onto Takashi’s shoulder. 

‘Shit!’

His eyes narrowed as he quickly punched the man, sending him flying over the bushes. 

‘No matter, I can fight them all with one hand,’ Takashi thought as he got into the best fighting stance he could with Haruhi close to his chest. 

With that one out, that left eight.

“The man is resisting! Ready to fire warning shots!” An officer shouted. 

“Takashi! Haru-chan, move!” Honey shouted as he came down from the trees. 

Takashi and Haruhi looked up to see the shortest host swing down on a vine and take out another officer. 

“What do you think you’re doing, pipsqueak?!” 

Takashi saw his cousin smirk, ‘Ah. That was his plan, huh.’

He took a step to his left to avoid one of the men that Honey flipped onto his back. Now that she was no longer in danger, Takashi gently set Haruhi down in an area out of the designated fighting area. He frowned as he watched his cousin fight, he would have helped if his cousin had not been trying to scheme a little plan and making everyone search for him. 

“Woah,” Haruhi whispered as she saw Honey standing surrounded by a pile of men who had been defeated. 

“Don’t go being so reckless. Picking on my friends is a no-no!” Honey said in that adorable voice of his. 

“Haruhi! Haruhi, are you all right?!” Tamaki shouted as he and the rest of the club ran towards them. 

Honey smiled as he looked at them, his plan would have to be saved for a rainy day then. 

“Ah, Tama-chan!” 

“Huh?” Hikaru muttered as he saw the damage done.

“Honey-senpai!” Karou shouted. 

Takashi watched as Tamaki hugged Haruhi, he looked away. The twins commented on how they were surprised it was Honey’s work and how much he must have been holding back. 

Takashi looked over to the one he had punched, he probably should have pulled the punch a bit more. 

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Haruhi asked as she pinched Tamaki and made him let go of her. 

“Huh?”

“You don’t know?” Hikaru asked. “The Haninozukas have been famous for their martial arts for generations. They’ve instructed the police, SDF, and overseas military forces, as well.”

“Honey-senpai has been called the most fearsome dreadnought in Haninozuka family history, and by the time he was in middle school, he was national champion in both karate and judo,” Kyoya said. 

Honey smiled and giggled as he looked at Haruhi’s face of confusion. 

“Mori-senpai also became the national champion in kendo, when he was in middle school,” Tamaki said. 

Takashi looked at Haruhi, her eyes were wide. He wondered what she was thinking about. 

“Honey-senpai, what are you doing here?” Hikaru asked. 

“You know what? I reached the end of the current pool, so I went looking for everyone,” Honey said. 

Takashi wondered when exactly Honey had found him and Haruhi. At what point did he start watching them and why had he not noticed that he was being watched? The latter question was especially bothering Takashi. 

“We humbly apologize!” The officers shouted as they all bowed before Honey. 

“I’m a 2nd generation student of the Ishizuka Dojo!” 

“I am a student of the Todoroki Dojo!” 

“I’m from the Otake-Dojo!” 

“We are in your debt!” 

Takashi looked over at the officer he took out, he was getting more concerned that he was still not moving. 

“Oh, is that right?” Honey asked. 

“Yes, sir!” 

“We’re so sorry! We were completely unaware that we were looking for Haninozuka-sama, and we have committed a terrible offense! Although accidental though it may have been, my dojo will take pride in the day that I was able to engage you, Mitsukuni-sama, personally for generations to come!” 

Haruhi’s shoulders fell as she heard the officer proclaim that.

‘Deep. He is deep. This goes way beyond deep,’ Haruhi thought. ‘His character might be the deepest one in the club!’

“Takashi, you did very well protecting Haru-chan,” Honey said as he grabbed his wrist and patted the top of his head. “You didn’t get lonesome without me around, right?” 

Takashi stood at his full height, he blinked once and glanced at Haruhi. 

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Honey giggled as he closed his eyes, ‘So it started.’

Haruhi looked at the taller in shock, ‘Nah, I’m probably thinking about it too much.’

“Well that’s been solved, let’s go back! We still have some time before we have to go!” Tamaki exclaimed. 

“Yeah! Let’s go have a lot of yummy desserts!” Honey exclaimed as he climbed onto Takashi’s back. 

As the club walked back towards the park, Takashi tried not to think about how it felt carrying Haruhi. He was used to carrying his cousin around, carrying Haruhi for that short of time should not have left him wanting to carry her again.

He shook his head, he would not think of that. 

~~~

The sun was going down and everyone was tired from their day out. The club headed towards the changing rooms, Honey resting on Takashi’s shoulders in their normal fashion. 

“We should go to the beach next, to clear the mood,” Hikaru said as he led them.

“The beach would be nice,” Karou responded. 

“You idiots, Haruhi wouldn’t be interested in that,” Tamaki responded. 

“I might not mind going to the beach,’ Haruhi contradicted. 

The twins and Tamaki turned to look at her. 

“This obviously artificial location may not be any fun, but the beach would be nice. It’s pretty there.” 

“All right, you got it! Next, we go to the beach!” Tamaki shouted. 

“He said we’re all going to the beach next,” Honey said before giggling and resting his hands and head on Takashi’s head. “That will be fun, huh?”

Takashi smiled as he looked up at his cousin, “Yeah.” 

Haruhi stared at Takashi, her lips spreading out into a smile.


	5. Sun and Tuna

“Isn’t this cute?”

“I think...that this one would look good on Haru-chan,” Honey said as he held up a swimsuit on a mannequin.

“You don’t get it, huh, Honey-senpai?” The twins asked.

Takashi walked into the sea of mannequins, he was intrigued by what was beach fashion. His eyebrow twitched as he overheard the twins talking about Haruhi’s physical feminine attributes. He came to a stop in front of a bathing suit that had shells to cover the upper part of the female body.

He wondered if they were real shells, made to seem like real shells, or simply fabric made to look like shells.

“I have no problem with that,” Kyoya said from somewhere on Takashi's left side.

“Mm,” Takashi agreed to go to the beach.

“Huh? We’re really going?” Haruhi asked.

“Come on, let’s go to the beach!” Tamaki shouted.

“Of course, we’re not going this very moment,” Kyoya said.

Tamaki and the twins seemed to deflate at that. Haruhi let out a breath of relief, with her club she never knew what plans were to happen immediately and which ones would be for later.

“Just let me know, I’ll have to ask my father,” Haruhi said as she stood up.

“Of course. We shall be going over the weekend and we’ll be staying overnight at a resort and leaving later the next day. Also, you shall be getting your own room so no worries.”

“Wait, but what about the half-classes on Saturday?” Haruhi asked.

“Don’t you know?” Kaoru asked.

“That they’re not mandatory?” Hikaru asked.

“What do you mean? Of course, they are,” Haruhi said.

“To an extent. You see, many clubs have activities on Saturday so students do come but it’s mainly for their club. Any club activities that clash with school hours on Saturday take priority. Of course, there’s also family matters, internships, and merely if you want to laze off,” Kyoya said.

Haruhi frowned, that did explain why there were not as many students in her Saturday classes.

“But we still learn stuff,” Haruhi defended.

“It’s either a review of what you learned in the class before or a brief taste of what’s to come,” Tamaki said.

“Ugh, can we just start setting up? I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Haruhi said.

Mitsukuni smiled, “Don’t worry, Haru-chan! We come every Saturday if there’s not a competition in the karate or kendo club!”

He sat on Takashi’s shoulders who simply responded with his usual, ‘mm.’

“Say Haruhi, speaking of which,” Hikaru started.

“Do you have those Saturday notes on the math homework?” Kaoru asked.

“We slept in on Saturday so we only showed up to whisk you away for our club getaway,” Hikaru explained.

Haruhi huffed, “Well you should have woken up. Get it from someone else.”

Takashi smiled as the twins began to put on an act. He enjoyed seeing Haruhi standing her ground and being slightly petty. He wondered if she would wind up choosing one of the swimsuits the twins lined up for her choosing.

He quickly went to help set up before his mind could think anymore about Haruhi in a swimsuit. The thought of Haruhi in the swimsuit he had been looking at being swept out of his mind immediately.

~~~

“So, why Okinawa?” The twins asked as they walked down the stairs of the place they were staying.

“Kyoya’s folks have a private beach here,” Tamaki responded.

“It’s a beautiful place, huh?” Honey asked as he and Takashi looked at one of the various statues.

The curves and painting were neatly done and taken well care of as well. Though, Takashi did notice just a bit of sproutage poking out from some of the small cracks near one of the statues. The small touch of nature relaxing him in the slightest, now it did not feel as superficial.

“Yeah.”

Haruhi came to a slight stop as her suitcase got stuck on a cracked step. She frowned, already in a mood since she had to wake up earlier than expected because her dad was rushing her to get ready. Granted, she had stayed up late the night before reviewing her lessons of the week that she would not get to review the next day.

She tugged on the suitcase but it remained lodged.

Takashi stopped walking and glanced behind him, he saw Haruhi tugging on her suitcase and the annoyed look on her face. No one else seemed to notice so he silently stepped away from Mitsukuni to help Haruhi before a certain three members made a big fuss over it and probably would wind up upsetting her further.

“As long as we’re not going somewhere, why not…” The twins started.

“Need help?” Takashi asked.

“...the Caribbean…” Hikaru listed.

“Yeah, the wheel is stuck,” Haruhi muttered.

“...or Fiji?” Kaoru asked.

Takashi bent down and wiggled the wheel out and Haruhi was able to wheel it out. She turned back to him and smiled. She was about to thank him when Kyoya spoke.

“Do you think Haruhi has a passport?” Kyoya asked the twins.

Takashi watched as her smile fell and turned into a scowl. For a second, he thought he saw a flash of pain on her face but when he blinked all he was left seeing was a scowling Haruhi. He and she knew how the others would comment on her status but Takashi had never seen Haruhi look hurt by what one of them said.

At least outright hurt. He had seen her put up a wall of anger or annoyance to hide the pain but she never managed to hide the truth from her big brown eyes. Perhaps he looked at her eyes too much, he realized as a clear image of Haruhi’s eyes appeared in his mind.

He frowned as they kept walking to catch up to the others, had he really seen her look hurt without a buffer? Even if he had, he knew how proud Haruhi was so asking her about it would make him seem like he was looking for another weakness to be poked at by the club. Of course, he had never made fun of her social economic status but he was sure she viewed him as she did the others.

Or perhaps she had chosen to let him see her pain, even if for a slight moment, out of trust? Or he was reading too much into it.

“Ah…” The twins responded.

She grew agitated and looked at the others, “Thank you for your thoughtfulness,” Haruhi said with a bite in her tone.

Takashi frowned as he looked away, he wished she had kept that smile even if for a second more. She looked at peace when she smiled like that.

Mitsukuni looked away, a small smile on his lips. Perhaps his cousin was farther along than he thought.

“Haru-chan! Do you need help carrying your suitcase?” Honey asked as he bounced over. “Takashi could help you carry it!”

Haruhi looked at the short boy with a slight frown, “No thank you, senpai. Like I said before, I’m perfectly able to carry my luggage and he’s already carrying his own. I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

“Haruhi! Do you need help!? Here! Let Daddy help you!” Tamaki shouted as he dramatically turned around and let go of his luggage.

He let out a shout of pain as his duffle bag hit his big toe and the twins started to laugh at him.

“I’m fine on my own, I don’t need any help,” Haruhi bit out as she continued past Tamaki and the twins.

“Mommy! Haruhi is going through her rebellious phase!” Tamaki wailed.

“I don’t know boss,” Hikaru said.

“I’m pretty sure she has yet to hit puberty so a rebellious phase can’t happen yet,” Kaoru said.

“Hikaru. Kaoru.”

Everyone froze at Takashi calling the twins names. The tall and silent male held a stoic look on his face.

“Takashi?” Mitsukuni said softly.

“You’re scaring me,” Tamaki said as he hid behind Kyoya.

“I think he’s saying that you two should apologize,” Honey offered.

“Right, right. We’re sorry,” The twins said, waving their hands dismissively.

A bead of sweat on either side of their face and a look of fear hidden under their nonchalant expression.

They continued walking and Haruhi frowned as she saw them walk past her, it was the first time she had seen the twins look so pale and walk at such a quick pace.

She turned her gaze from the twins to Takashi. Their eyes met for a moment but then Takashi looked away and seemed to busy himself in Honey’s need of looking over a wall.

Haruhi was silent as they walked, ‘I wonder. Did the twins apologize to me or Mori-senpai? And why did senpai stick up for me?’

The club pulled ahead of the cousins as Honey picked a flower that had grown on the top of the wall.

“I didn’t think you would say anything to them,” Honey said as the cousins walked toward the rest of the club. “You usually stay silent about her mistreatment.”

Kyoya had taken the opportunity to read out their schedule. He had let them know that their customers would be joining them for the beach retreat. He had made a profit selling tickets and spot reservations for the hosts.

Their ‘free vacation’ came at the cost of their private time and them having to work still.

“They were out of line.”

Had the twins been his trainees, disciples, or even trained in martial arts, he would have challenged them to a duel. The twins needed to learn a lesson and their spot and that was the way of his family to put someone in his or her place.

“I thought we were going to stay out of their teasing of Haruhi?” Mitsukuni questioned as he twirled the flower between his thumb and pointer.

“I never said that.”

“So why haven’t you intervened before?” Honey kept pushing.

“I have,” Takashi thought back to Haruhi’s early days. When Tamaki was touching her and making her uncomfortable. “No one has hurt her since then. Until today.”

Honey hummed before smiling.

“Haru-chan! I got you a flower!”

Haruhi turned back to look at the loli boy who smiled and held out a flower for her. It was a pretty one.

“Thanks, senpai.”

She reached for it but they were too short to reach far enough.

Honey pouted as he struggled against Takashi’s height, “Almost, ngh, there,” he kept stretching his arm as far as he could.

“Here,” Takashi said as he bent down slightly.

Haruhi was able to reach the flower but her face was awfully close to Takashi’s lips. With a little push, Takashi would have met her forehead with his lips but he stood up before either fully realized how close he had been.

Everyone but Mitsukuni, who hid a smirk with a strained smile. Luckily, Haruhi was awful with social cues from others and Takashi would not be able to see his face.

~~~

“Ugh, I can’t believe Kyoya-senpai did that,” Haruhi muttered as she sat down on the bed in her room.

She had slightly been looking forward to swimming a bit. However, with the customers there with them she would not be able to swim in proper clothes without the noticeable bump on her chest.

No matter how baggy of a shirt she wore, it would cling desperately on her wet skin if she went for a skin.

“I wonder...if I could swim at night?” Haruhi wondered.

When Kyoya had gone over their schedules, she noticed most of the girls would leave near the evening for the nearby hotel. And the very few girls who stayed, had estates nearby that they would go to at sun-down.

Haruhi frowned, swimming alone at night sounded like a terrible idea. If something were to go wrong, she could be seriously injured.

‘Mom, is it really okay for me to be here?’

She was the only girl there. She doubted any of the boys would try anything but then again there were the twins and Tamaki. They always got into her personal space.

“Haruhi! Are you coming?!” Karou shouted from her door.

“Is it already time for the guests to arrive?” Haruhi asked.

“Yup! Now hurry up!” Hikaru shouted.

“You two! Stop harassing my little girl!” Tamaki shouted from down the hall.

Haruhi groaned as she flopped against the mattress.

“Oh come on!” Hikaru shouted.

“We want to see Haruhi in a swimsuit too!”

“Why you perverted-”

“Tamaki, you guests are waiting. As are yours,” Kyoya said calmly with a schedule in his hands.

“But I need to see-”

“We’re going,” Kyoya said as he grabbed Tamaki’s wrist and gave the twins a look.

The four shirtless boys kept talking as they made their way further down the hall much to Haruhi’s relief.

Haruhi let another minute pass before she left her room. The halls were eerily silent as she walked, ‘I would have brought my notes if I knew this would happen.’

She slipped her hands into her pockets, one thing she loved about boy’s shorts. There were pockets upon pockets, there were too many for her to even know what to do with. The small girl’s pockets were the bane of her existence and rage would rise when she found a pair of pants that had the pockets sewn shut.

“Don’t forget to water the tomato plant in my room.”

Haruhi paused in the hall at the sound of the deep voice.

Haruhi stayed still, waiting for Takashi to continue his call when said male turned the corner and stared down at her. His movement was so sudden she jumped and let out a shout.

“Sorry,” Takashi quickly apologized.

“It’s fine, senpai. I was just on my way out, I didn’t mean to listen in to your conversation,” Haruhi explained herself.

“It wasn’t long. Let’s go.”

Haruhi nodded and started walking when she suddenly became keenly aware that Takashi was looking at her. She looked up at him and met his gray gaze.

She liked the color of his eyes.

“You didn’t put on sunscreen.”

“Huh?”

Haruhi blinked twice, how in the world did he realize that?

“Here.”

Haruhi looked at his hand to see him holding out a bottle of sunscreen. There was a cute image of a penguin surfing on the label. Haruhi wondered why, out of all the animals, the company had chosen a penguin.

“How could you tell?” Haruhi asked as she took the bottle.

“You smell like flowers.”

Takashi said nothing more as he exited the estate. Haruhi watched as the sun washed over his toned body.

“Flowers?”

Haruhi tentatively brought up her arm to her nose and took a sniff, she did not smell anything. She frowned, she had washed her hair last night with a shampoo that had a slight scent of flowers. She was not fond of products that heavily smelled of its scent so she got shampoos with very light scents.

There should have been no way he could have smiled that. She could not even smell it and it was her hair!

Haruhi sighed, she might as well use the sunscreen.

Meanwhile, Mitsukuni was looking at the girls in their swimsuits. They looked good but none of them stood out to him.

“Honey-senpai, look!” A girl with brown hair called out.

Mitsukuni ran over with a smile, “Ooh, what is it? I wanna see!” He said in a cute voice.

The girl was pretty, he could mess with her a bit.

“It’s a conch shell,” She said as she pointed to the rather large shell.

“Oh! Those are the ones they blow in movies! You think that would work?!” Honey asked he was genuinely intrigued.

“Ah, Mori-senpai, why don’t you try?” The girl asked, her cheeks lighting up ever so slightly.

Honey grumbled before quickly flashing a smile and encouraging his cousin.

“Look,” Takashi said.

Mitsukuni and the girl turned to see a critter crawl out of the shell.

“Ah!!” The two screamed.

Honey ran to Takashi and made his way to his back while the girl ran off towards some other girls.

“She was kinda cute, and an underclassman,” Honey said as he rested head in the crook of Takashi’s.

His feet had been burning on the sand.

“She’s Ryuji’s fiancee,” Takashi rebutted.

“Obviously she doesn’t like him, it was an arranged marriage wasn’t it?” Honey asked.

He vaguely recalled Ryuji from class 3-B, he had been in the karate club their first year but switched to kendo in their second year. Now he quit both clubs and was working an internship at his family’s business in his free time.

“Otherwise, why would she be here surrounded by good looking guys?”

Takashi frowned, “And in you go.”

“Takashi!” Mitsukuni shouted as he got thrown into the water.

Takashi looked down at his cousin who sat in the low tidewater.

“I thought you were the one who said that I’m not allowed in the water without stretching,” Honey said as he stood up.

“For swimming.”

Honey sighed, his cousin won that round.

“Come on, let’s do our stretches!”

“Mm.”

As the little critter made its way away from the cousins, it passed by Haruhi. She had just sat down after placing the umbrella and her sitting area in place.

“Why?” Haruhi muttered as she looked at the line of girls waiting for their time with Tamaki.

It was hot out and they chose to stand under the blazing heat for a few moments next to the club president.

“Why are we conducting Host Club activities here at the beach?” She wondered aloud.

She noticed movement in the corner of her eyes and looked over with a slightly flushed face to see the cousins and two girls doing some weird movements, stretches perhaps. Haruhi was too hot to think about it too much, her brain was having a hard time focusing on reality.

“Haruhi-kun?”

Haruhi turned around to see three girls standing behind the blanket on the ground.

“Haruhi-kun, aren’t you going swimming?” One of the girls asked.

“Oh, I like looking at the sea more,” Haruhi responded.

“Well, would it be okay if we joined you?” Another asked.

“How come?” Haruhi asked. “Go ahead and swim. You’re wearing such cute swimsuits and all.”

The three girls grinned at Haruhi as they wore blushes that were clearly not from the sun.

“Uh…” Haruhi felt awkward under their strong gaze.

“Will you watch us swim?” One of the girls asked with hearts in her eyes.

Haruhi shook her head, “I’m going to stretch my legs a bit. But you three go have fun in the water.”

“Aw,” One girl muttered but the three quickly headed to the water.

Haruhi sighed, now she had to get up if not she would be called out. She followed the edge of the sea, she was partially looking for a shell to take home. She had promised her father to get him a shell.

“Haru-chan!”

Haruhi looked up to see Honey sitting near the edge of the sea with a shovel and bucket. There were a few things in his bucket. Takashi was looking out at the sea with a leg perched upon a rock that was connected to a much bigger rock wall.

“Let’s go hellfish shunting!” Honey shouted cheerfully.

“I think you mean ‘shellfish hunting’,” Haruhi offered. “And I’ve never heard of anyone going shellfish hunting…” She looked closer at the contents of the bucket, “..anywhere like this…”

Then she saw the creatures piled in the bucket and took a step back out of shock. She saw a crab at the top making its way down and when she looked down, she was suddenly standing in a sea of crabs.

“What is this?!” Haruhi shouted in shock.

Takashi looked at Haruhi, he had been surprised at Honey’s findings of crab. He had seen Kyoya walk past earlier, perhaps he knew what was going on.

He peered over the rock wall and saw Kyoya below.

“Mori-senpai...My folks' private police force wanted to make up for their offense toward Honey-senpai earlier, so I’m letting them do this,” Kyoya explained.

There was a human conveyor belt of suited men passing buckets upon buckets of sea creatures down to be poured onto the sea for Honey to collect. He eyes the giant truck warily, he was unsure if such a large and heavy object should be on the sand of all of the types of terrain.

“Amazing! What a haul!” Honey shouted.

“We’re going to have a fancy side dish tonight, huh?” Haruhi muttered in awe.

‘It’s going to be delicious!’ Haruhi thought. She loved seafood.

Takashi looked back down at where Haruhi accompanied his cousin; there were plastic pools filled with sea creatures.

“Well, you two look like you’re enjoying yourself, so I guess it’s all right,” Tamaki said.

He had rushed over when he saw the hoard of crabs.

Takashi carefully made his way down the rocky wall and stood next to Tamaki, he looked at Haruhi and Mitsukuni. They looked pleased.

“Senpai!” Haruhi called out. “We caught a big haul for tonight’s supper!”

Haruhi kept on shouting ‘big haul’, and Takashi smiled. The delighted look on Haruhi’s face was nice.

“Tonight's supper is going to be a real treat!” Haruhi shouted in glee.

Takashi wiped his hands on his swim shorts. Haruhi was really looking forward to the meal, he could not mess up in the cooking department. He wanted her to look pleased when she ate the meal she was so looking forward to.

Tamaki had walked over towards Haruhi and picked up a crab, he made a cheesy joke which Haruhi responded positively towards. Then, a centipede appeared causing everyone, including the twins who had walked over to look at the haul, to run in all different directions.

Honey laughed as he ran towards Takashi, it was funny seeing everyone freak out over a little bug.

Haruhi calmly turned around and picked the centipede off the crab and tossed the little critter over the stone wall. Takashi nodded, her throwing position had been perfect and she had managed to toss it over a particularly large rock.

“Hey, Haruhi…” The twins slid next to Haruhi on either side.

“As much as it would pain me to think that you’re a bug-loving, kindhearted girl…” Hikaru said.

“...Couldn’t you have at least set that thing free more gently?” Kaoru continued.

“It’s okay. It will take more than that to kill it,” Haruhi reassured the twins.

“Haruhi-kun is so manly,” One of the girls said.

“And yet so nice, huh?”

“Fantastic.”

Takashi watched the girls fawn over Haruhi.

“Tama-chan is doing something fun! Let’s go!” Honey said as he grabbed his wrist and led Takashi toward the other members excluding Haruhi.

The twins were talking about some game to find out Haruhi’s weakness.

“I will give whoever wins a prize,” Kyoya spoke up.

He pulled out three pictures of Haruhi in girlier outfits. Takashi blushed ever so slightly, he never realized how photogenic Haruhi was.

“We’re in on this, too!” Honey said cheerfully.

“So then, everyone is playing,” Kyoya said.

“But Kyo-chan, how is it that you have those photos?” Honey asked since his cousin had not asked.

He knew his cousin well enough to tell he wanted to know, it was a gut feeling mixed with observations.

“I have my sources. Why don’t we just leave it at that?” Kyoya asked.

“Alright, let the game begin!” The twins shouted.

“What game?” Haruhi asked, suddenly appearing.

“The game of courage!” Hikaru shouted.

“Come on!” Kaoru urged.

Takashi frowned, he wondered what his cousin had roped them into. He was not going to try and scare Haruhi and lose whatever respect she had for him - or he had for himself - so…

He made eye contact with a nearby shed that was bound to have something.

Haruhi was walking away from the large truck that Honey had been scared of being in, ‘What was he trying to prove?’

Suddenly, she was looking at a harpoon, “This is a mori*, right, Mori-senpai?”

*Mori is harpoon in Japanese

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to do some fishing or something?” Haruhi asked.

Takashi lowered the harpoon, “Actually...yeah.”

“Cool! Let me know what you catch, I’ll get even more side dishes for whatever you catch!” Haruhi chirped before bouncing away.

He watched the cheery girl go with a smile on his lips.

~~~

“And another side dish…” Haruhi murmured.

It was nearing sundown so the majority of the girls were gone. Haruhi was still picking up lingering sea life as she waited for sundown. Kyoya had made it very clear that none of them would leave before all of their guests had gone for the evening.

“Haruhi-kun!”

Haruhi looked up at the direction the shouting was coming from and saw the remaining girls on top of a rocky cliff.

“Hey there!”

“This breeze feels great!”

Takashi frowned, he set the cooler down.

“Mitsukuni, take this inside,” Takashi said as he straightened up.

“What’s wrong?” Honey immediately asked.

“Nothing…”

Takashi walked off before Honey could question him any more. He begrudgingly took the cooler into the estate and with the sound of the door closing, Takashi ran off.

He sniffed the air, the scent of alcohol was getting stronger. He stopped running when he came to a stop in front of a group of guys who had all clearly drank too much cheap alcohol.

“You, boy, where are the girls?” One asked.

“Don’t keep ‘em all to yourself,” A guy who reeked of alcohol slung his arm around his shoulders.

In the blink of an eye, Takashi had flipped the guy over and knocked the wind out of him.

“Oi!” Another guy shouted as he balled his fist.

“You’ll pay for that!”

The group of guys charged at Takashi. He was easily able to dodge and land hits. His being a skilled martial arts master and them being drunk put them at an even greater disadvantage.

His elbow had slammed into a guy's skull when he heard shouting.

“Haruhi!”

Takashi quickly dropped the last guy who was semi-conscious. That was Tamaki, he sounded serious.

“Shit.”

He quickly ran off to where he had last seen Haruhi collecting their side dishes, the group of guys had been taken care of.

When he arrived, he saw the other club members but Tamaki and Haruhi. He then saw Haruhi emerge in the arms of Tamaki from the water.

He clenched his fist.

“Where are they?” Tamaki asked.

“We’ve kept their ID cards and respectfully asked them to leave,” Kyoya responded. “The girls went back to the hotel.”

Takashi wondered if they were part of the same guys he had just taken care of.

“I’ve called a doctor, who should be here shortly,” Kyoya finished.

“I’m all right. I don’t need a doctor,” Haruhi said as she got out of Tamaki’s hold.

“Are you one of those?” Tamaki suddenly asked. “Actually a martial arts master, like Honey-senpai?”

Haruhi turned and looked up at Tamaki.

“How could you think that you, a girl, by yourself, could do anything against those boys?!” Tamaki shouted in her face.

Takashi clenched his fists harder, his dull nails were starting to dig into his palms.

“It had nothing to do with being a boy or a girl. I was just there and didn’t have time to think about anything-”

“Well, think about it, you idiot! You are a girl!” Tamaki shouted.

Takashi let out a low growl, his fist began to tremble.

“I will apologize for making you come after me, but I can’t understand any other reason why you’d be mad at me. I haven't done anything wrong,” Haruhi stood her ground.

“You haven’t, huh? Then you go right ahead,” Tamaki began to walk away. “I’m not speaking to you again until you admit you were wrong!”

Haruhi huffed as she looked away from Tamaki.

“Come on, let’s go wash up,” Kyoya said, breaking part of the tension.

“Sounds good, these clothes weren’t meant for swimming,” Haruhi said calmly.

“Yes, well, the doctor will be here soon so hurry up,” Kyoya said as he walked away.

“I don’t need a doctor!” Haruhi called after him.

“It’s common courtesy,” Hikaru muttered as he and Kaoru walked away.

“Jeez,” Haruhi muttered under her breath.

“Come on! The faster we wash up, the faster we get to eat our yummy side-dishes!” Honey said cheerfully as he grabbed Haruhi’s hand and led them toward the estate.

Takashi stood out on the beach, alone. He let out a deep breath and released his shaking fists.

He picked up a rock near the edge of the sea and with all the rage left in his body, sent it flying far into the sea. As he walked toward the estate, small waves rolled in caused by his hit.

~~~

“Ta-da! The crabs are all boiled!” Honey said cheerfully.

“I’m sorry, senpai, that there aren’t any maids here now,” Kyoya said as he walked towards the table.

“We're the ones that barged in on your villa, Kyo-chan,” Honey said. ‘Takashi, go call Haru-chan in.”

“Mm,” Takashi muttered as he walked away.

He had been too busy to talk to Haruhi. Now he would be able to talk to her without the other guys. He was especially mad with Tamaki for his sexist remark. As he walked down the long hall, his mind wandered to his mother.

She had been the second-place winner in nationals in kendo, second only to his father. If she wanted to, she could take Tamaki down with the flick of her wrist. He had never been as disgusted by Tamaki’s remarks as he currently was.

He knocked on Haruhi’s door, “Dinner is ready.”

“C-coming!”

Takashi heard some rustling and Haruhi peeked her head out, her face rather flush.

“Mori-senpai,” She greeted.

She opened the door to reveal herself in a pink dress. There was a look of discomfort and the blush on her cheeks told him she was uncomfortable.

“The dress is pretty,” Takashi saw her eyes drift to the floor.

“My dad changed my clothes when I wasn’t looking...”

“You can borrow some of mine.”

Haruhi looked up at Takashi with wide eyes before smiling.

“Thanks, senpai, but I might as well just wear it. I don’t want to dirty your clothes since you probably didn’t pack enough clothes to be able to lend some away.”

Haruhi stepped out of the room and closed the door.

“Let’s go have dinner,” Haruhi said.

“Yeah.”

The two walked down the hall, “You’re very brave. I respect you for it,” Takashi suddenly said.

Haruhi paused, her eyes widening. She had an idea of how respected Takashi was and to have him say that he respects her, she knew several others who would kill to hear that.

“Really?” Haruhi asked.

She had been sure all the boys had been mad at her like Tamaki.

“Gender doesn’t matter in strength.”

“Why won’t the others understand?” Haruhi asked.

“I don’t know,” Takashi said softly.

“So, you’re really on my side for what I did today?”

“Mm.”

Haruhi smiled before Takashi pushed the doors open. Talking to Takashi had made her forget her initial fear of walking into dinner in a dress.

Immediately she was surrounded by the others, excluding Tamaki, and explained the reason for the dress.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Haruhi said after getting sick of the boys complimenting her for an outfit she did not want to wear.

Things got very awkward when they sat down and Tamaki chose to sit next to Haruhi. After the initial awkwardness, Honey was able to break the ice ever so slightly.

“Let’s eat, Haru-chan,” Takashi lifted one of the crabs in the background. “I’m sure the crabs we caught today are delicious,” Mitsukuni said.

Haruhi nodded and grabbed a crab leg and broke it open. She took a bite of it, and Takashi watched a blush grow on her cheeks.

He liked seeing Haruhi happy. She seemed to be happiest when eating food.

“This crab, taste in crab-able,” Haruhi joked.

She happily broke more and more crab legs. She created a pile of the remains until Tamaki spoke to her about eating too much.

She quickly made a jab back at him causing him to leave with Kyoya to find his room. He had been the only one to go to the beach before Kyoya could show him where his room was.

The moment he left, her arms fell weak.

“Maybe I really should learn some karate or something,” Haruhi muttered.

It was not for Tamaki, but it would be useful to be able to get him off of her. She had been replaying the incident from earlier and how it would have been safer for the girls if Haruhi had been able to take the guys out and not leave them to wait for the others to arrive.

“Oh, then it’s bothering you?” The twins asked.

“It’s not like we’d stop you or anything,” Kaoru said.

“To be honest, I wish you’d reconsider how rashly you acted today, too,” Hikaru said.

Haruhi bit her cheek, at least they were saying it to her face now.

“Why? Hikaru, I didn’t make trouble for you guys, right?”

The twins sighed and shrugged at one another.

“THat’s not true, Haru-chan,” Honey said. “You should tell everyone you’re sorry, okay? Understand? And tell Tama-chan that you’re sorry for worrying him.”

“You were all worried about me?”

Everyone but Takashi sighed, “Do you believe this girl?” The twins asked.

“I’m sorry,” Haruhi muttered.

“Aw, what for you little mutt?” The twins asked as everyone hugged her.

Takashi stood towards the back since he was still eating.

“You’re so cute we’ll forgive you!” The twins said cheerfully.

Haruhi started to gag and the boys quickly rushed the smaller into the nearest bathroom.

Takashi sighed, he might as well get started. He had been saving it for later but since she was sick and there was no more crab left, he could make it then.

He walked off, leaving the others.

He had been in the last stages of his preparation when Kyoya came in.

“Are you coming? We’re going to check up on Haruhi,” Kyoya said.

“Yeah, I’m going.”

He silently walked with the club into the room she was in and the twins opened the door. The moment he saw inside, he frowned and places his fists against his hips in anger.

“What kind of ‘play’ is this?” The twins asked.

“It’s not like that!” Tamaki tried to say.

“Takashi, take Haruhi to her room. We’ll deal with this pervert,” Honey ordered.

“W-wait!” Tamaki tried but Haruhi was up and she was confused as the twins shoved her into Takashi’s arms.

“How dare you subject our innocent little Haruhi into S&M?” Hikaru bit out.

“Let’s go,” Takashi said.

Haruhi frowned at Tamaki, she dropped the blindfold.

“Okay.”

The two made it to Haruhi’s room when another crash of lightning arrived with its chorus of thunder. Without thinking, Haruhi pulled Takashi into her room and closed the door.

Takashi grew rigid at being in her room, “Senpai! I-I need to ask you something!”

Takashi felt his heart start to race. He had read books with these types of things.

“What is it?” Takashi carefully asked.

“I want you to...tuck me in?”

Takashi hesitantly nodded. Haruhi felt her face burning as she turned towards her bed, of all the things she could think of…

She got in bed, Takashi looked away at that part, and he turned around when he heard her shifting the coversand adjusting herself on the bed.

“Thank you again, senpai,” Haruhi whispered.

“Mm.”

As he began to tuck her in, her stomach let out a growl.

In the whole fiasco with Tamaki being a pervert, he had forgotten about her surprise.

“I’ll be right back,” Takashi whispered as Haruhi sat up on her bed.

“Where-”

The sky roared and the light flashed again.

“Senpai!” Haruhi shouted as she quickly crawled out and hugged his arm.

Takashi went completely frozen.

“Let me come too! Where ever!”

“Yeah. Okay,” Takashi said quickly as Haruhi let go and he stood up.

“Follow me,” Takashi said.

“Will this work?” Haruhi asked as she pinched a bit of his shirt from behind.

“Yeah.”

Takashi led her to the kitchen and had her close her eyes. Haruhi stood in confusion, hoping he would return before the next strike, when she felt something pressing against her lips.

She opened her eyes to see Takashi holding a plate of sushi with tuna.

“Kind of fancy tuna,” Takashi said.

There was a slight blush on his cheeks.

“Senpai,” Haruhi whispered as she took the piece against the lips and ate it.

Her face lit up and she had the usual cute look she wore when she ate.

“This is delicious, when did you get tuna?”

“I went fishing,” Takashi admitted.

“You’re a great cook, mm,” Haruhi mumbled around another piece.

Takashi smiled. He watched her eat until there was one piece left on the plate.

“Ugh, I’m full. I really don't want a repeat of the crab dinner. Do you have room? I hate for such a good piece of food to go to waste.”

Takashi picked it up and ate it, he just barely had enough room for the piece. Haruhi was right, it was good.

“Um, senpai, could I ask for a favor?”

“Hm?”

“Could you teach me kendo? I’m not doing this for Tamaki or anyone else in the club, I just, I want to do it for me.”

“What do you think about what you did?” Takashi questioned as he walked over to the sink and began to wash the dishes.

Haruhi quickly stood next to him, drying and putting the dishes away.

“I did the right thing but I worried everyone else,” Haruhi said.

“Would you do it again?”

“Yes. It doesn’t matter who, I would stand up for whoever I needed to. Even you!”

Takashi chuckled, she definitely had the fire and will.

“I’ll teach you.”

Haruhi dropped the plate she had been drying.

“Really?!”

“Mm, but in return, you won’t give up your belief again.”

Haruhi smiled, “Deal!”

“Tomorrow will be our first training session.”


End file.
